Janelle Irwin Taylor
Pinellas County School Board member Dawn Peters has drawn a challenge to her 2026 re-election bid.
Curtis Campogni, a motivational speaker, filed last week for the countywide District 3 race, in which Peters is also already filed.
School Board races in Pinellas County are nonpartisan, but voters often consider partisanship in their voting choices even without political affiliation listed on the ballot or advertised throughout campaigns. Peters was first elected in 2022 as part of a statewide slate of conservative Moms for Liberty-backed candidates. Campogni is not registered to a political party.
Neither candidate has yet posted any fundraising activity.
Campogni on Monday teased a campaign announcement on his personal Instagram, sharing a photo of himself with his adopted daughter, whom he is raising with his wife. The girl began kindergarten this year, he wrote.
“I’m the son of a teacher and the husband of a social worker. And throughout my career, I’ve led youth programs across Pinellas, Orlando, Sarasota, and Brevard — helping kids and families succeed,” Campogni posted. “Now I’m stepping up to give back to the county that raised me. Our schools deserve a leader who will disrupt the status quo and bring people together to find solutions.”
It’s not clear what Campogni meant by disrupting the status quo, but Peters was one of two candidates elected in 2022 with ties to Moms for Liberty. And last year, three candidates ran under the conservative education activist group banner, with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ support. None of them won.
Peters, in 2022, was a controversial candidate. She touted mainstream support from the Pinellas Suncoast Black Republican Club and the Pinellas Republican Liberty Caucus. But she also faced backlash after the Tampa Bay Times found social media posts in which Peters is pictured taking the QAnon oath, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election as “Trump 2Q2Q” and posting tweets insisting that the moon landings, the 9/11 terror attacks and the coronavirus pandemic were “hoaxes.”
Peters told the Times at the time that the posts were “obviously real,” but that she did not recall what she was thinking when she shared them, which was about two years before the 2022 campaign.
Peters also ran that year with support from the 1776 Project PAC, which asks individuals to report local cases of critical race theory in schools. While Florida schools don’t teach critical race theory, Florida’s Republican leadership had been vetting curriculum for any traces of “woke” content.
Campogni in 2021 founded Speak 4 Motivating Change, which he calls Speak4MC for short, under the belief that “anyone can grow with the right tools, resources, and motivation,” according to his bio. Campogni provides “inspirational content and consultation that influences positive change, raises awareness, and helps people who help people.”
His company’s services include motivational interviewing workshops, leadership development programs, keynote speaking and team building engagements.
Campogni is also the author of C.A.P.E. Conversations: How Superheroes Communicate with Children, a book that aims to help parents and professionals support, communicate with and inspire young people.
