Two former teachers defeated conservatives in the Sarasota School Board race, flipping the board where a conservative majority held sway since 2022, while a third contest is headed to a runoff.
Jimmy Glover, a candidate from Newtown, won about 44% of the vote and will face a runoff with Republican Heidi Brandt.
The seat was previously held by Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler. She has served three terms on the Sarasota school board (2014, 2018, 2022) and did not seek re-election.
Southside elementary mom Heidi Brandt won 32% and Teresa DeWitt, who has been involved in Moms For Liberty activism, according to her website, got about 25% of the vote. That triggers a runoff between Brandt and Glover, since no candidate won more than 50%.
Former classroom leaders Beth Mayberry and Megan Tennimon easily won their seats against conservative challengers. They ran on issues like school funding, academic achievement and helping kids in under-served areas.
They join moderates Liz Barker, a former school counselor, and businessman Tom Edwards on the five-member board.
The Sarasota school board garnered national headlines for its hard stance on culture war issues, and for a sex scandal involving Ziegler and her husband, who faced an allegation of sexual assault but was never charged.
Ziegler, along with conservative school board members Robyn Marinelli, Karen Rose and Tim Enos, voted to oust superintendent Brennan Asplen shortly after they were elected four years ago for reasons that were unclear. Asplen blasted the action as "politics and nonsense."
Ziegler also supported initiatives to cooperate with ICE officers and to investigate how much undocumented students were costing the district.
Complete results from the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections
