School choice wins for GOP as voters reject teacher-union pawns

Last month, Republicans running for office who were either♈ backed by teachers unions or spoke out against school choice lost big in their primary elections in Idaho, Kentucky and Texas.

It’s part of a larger trend happening across the United States, and it should serve as a wake-up call to candidates run꧃ning for office: Teachers union support is the political kiss of death for Republicans.

Power-hungry 🌳teachers unions aಞre the enemies of parents and children.

Our government school s🎉♍ystems have been hijacked by extremists who want to push their radical ideology on other people’s kids.

They have essꦉentially ruined education in America and made it abundantly clear they are more focused on trapping children in failing government schools than giving kids the quality education they deserve.

During the pandemic, unions were the tip of the spear for school closures and crippling learning loss.

While Becky Pringle of the National Education Association and Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers were fighting tooth and nail to keep schools closed, they were lining their own pocketbooks and raking in over $500,000 – nearly ✤nine times the average teacher’s salary in America.

As if that wasn’t enough, as public schools dominated by teachers unions continue to fail their students in almost every major city, Stacy Davis Gates of the Chicago Teachers Union sent her own son to private school after calling school choice racist.

But parents are waking up.

Families know that unions are coming after their rights to raise their children, and that their kids 🔯aren’t getting the education they need.

From school board meetings to the voting booth, parents and their advocates are taking matters into their own hands — supporting candidates and policies that promote education free✨dom.

For far too long, union-controlled politicians of both parties have bowed down to teachers unions and spoken out against school choice, despite the wishes of the local communities they were eleꦕcted to represent.

But this year’s Republican primary elections in Idaho, Kentucky and Texas proved that parents are united behind school-choice candidat🔜es and intend on defeating politicians who don’t support🌺 their rights.

The th𝕴ree Republicans in the Iꦜdaho House with the most support from teachers unions all lost their primary elections to candidates who support school choice.

Anti-school-choice Republicans in Texas saw e🍸ven more opposition from frustrated families.

Twenty-one of them voted ඣwith all the Democrats to block school choice in the Texas House last year. Foꦐurteen of them are now gone.

Parents now have the votes to pass school 🥂choice in Texas for the first time in history.

𒆙Nine of the 13 anti-school-choice Republicans in the Texas House targ☂eted by AFC Victory Fund, my organization’s school choice super PAC, lost their races this year.

These wins translate to a 69% victory rate against incumbents — the hardest th📖ing tಞo do in politics: Incumbents generally win reelection 95% of the time.

It was no different in Kentucky. In an absolute blo🔴odbath, the two GOP state House members who received the most money from teachers unions lost their elections by 44 and 48 points to challengers who support educational fr🌳eedom for students and parents.

These wins aren’t un🦩ique to this year. In 2022, 40 of the 69 legislators challenged by my organization and our state affil🔥iates nationwide lost their seats.

In Tennessee that year, 10 of the Republicans running for the Houseꦫ were supp𝔉orted by the teachers union. Nine of them lost.

School choice has emerged as a GOP li🍰tmus-test issue and a political winner because parents are holdꦡing politicians accountable.

The hard truth is, these public sector unions aren’t just trying to take control of education and trap 💝parents and students in failing schools.

They also want to shoehorn unions into every aspect of Americ🐼an life, growing their progressive influence and control over the American people.

But if the recent primary el♛ections across the country teach us anything, it’s that parents, families and everyday Americans are fed up with overreaching unions and the control they are attempting to take in our core institutions.

Let this electoral trend serve as ꦿtheir warning🌌: Enough is enough.

Corey DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and author of .”