Kate Bradshaw
By a 54% to 46% vote, incumbent board member Lynn Gray defeated former board member Sally Harris in the race for the District 7 seat on the Hillsborough County School Board.
This is a countywide seat for which Gray sought a second term. Harris was a member of the School Board from 2014 to 2018.
Gray has decades of experience in public and private education, while Harris is the owner of Circle C Ranch Academy. Harris had been criticized for having support from conservative PACs, and was also under fire earlier this year for allegedly sharing a racist, anti-mask meme on Facebook.
It has been a tough year for Hillsborough School Board incumbents. None of the three running for reelection in 2020 received the 50% primary threshold vote that would have prevented a runoff. In fact, not one of the three even came in first. This is most likely due to frustration over COVID-19-related policies regarding both e-learning and reopening of schools amid the pandemic.
Gray has largely remained above the fray, even as her fellow incumbents saw a great deal of criticism in recent months.
The Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association endorsed Gray, as did the Tampa Bay Times. She was, in fact, the only incumbent to be endorsed by the Times.
Gray also had a cash advantage, but it wasn’t massive. She raised $89,650 to Harris’ $80,229.
