Ron DeSantis says his influence in Duval County School Board race paid off despite struggles elsewhere

Gov. Ron DeSantis tried to sway voters in multiple county School Board elections across the state, but there were few with more posts on the line in Tuesday’s elections than in Duval County.

The results of the effort by DeSantis endorsing candidates in three of four seats up for grabs in Jacksonville were mixed at best. Only two out of the four candidates DeSantis endorsed in the four Duval County School Board races clinched victory Tuesday. One will go onto a runoff election in November.

Despite even worse results elsewhere, DeSantis defended his involvement in the localized educational races in Duval County.

“We wanted to support School Board candidates in whatever capacity we can that believe in putting students first, that respect the rights of parents and that believe schools should educate not indoctrinate,” DeSantis said during a visit to Sarasota Wednesday.

While his endorsements may not have resulted in across-the-board victories in Duval County Tuesday, DeSantis said the seven-member School Board is now in the hands of members that support his philosophy after additional wins in 2022.

“When you look at, like, Duval County, that’s a million people in that area, they now have a 4-to-3 majority (of DeSantis-endorsed candidates),” DeSantis said. “A majority of the School Board in Duval County, which (President) Joe Biden won in 2020, has School Board members that believe in students first, that believe in protecting the rights of parents.”

DeSantis said several of his endorsements of School Board candidates in other Florida counties also helped in deciding elections Tuesday.

“There’s no other state in the country where you have counties, areas of that size, where you’ve seen (conservative) candidates win and win consistently,” DeSantis said. “My view is, you need to field candidates and run them all the way across the board. You shouldn’t be ceding any of these elections.”

In Duval, two of the candidates he endorsed — Tony Ricardo in the District 1 race, and Melony Bolduc in the District 7 race — won their elections outright. The District 7 race saw Buldoc clinch her election with the widest margin in any Jacksonville School Board race over her competitor Sarah Mannion.

But in the bitterly contested District 3 race, incumbent Cindy Pearson edged out challenger Rebecca “Becky” Nathanson by just more than 400 votes, even though Nathanson received backing from the Republican heavyweight Governor in the nonpartisan election.

The final race in the Duval County School Board gambit was the only one with three candidates. DeSantis did not back a candidate in that race. Reggie Blount, scored the most votes in the District 5 race, with 6,102 votes. But since he failed to secure a majority, it was not enough to secure victory just yet.

Hank Rogers racked up 6,034 votes and with Nahshan Nicks in a distant third, the ultimate result forced a runoff vote in the General Election between Blount and Rogers on Nov. 5.

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A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics contributed to this report.

Correction: This story originally stated DeSantis endorsed Reggie Blount. He did not.