Lesson: People Don't Want Crazy on their School Boards

Plus, How Toxic Is the Epstein Case? An Ohio Poll Makes It Clear...

I saw it in my own neighborhood.

I saw it in nearby neighborhoods.

We saw it all over Ohio, and the country.

People may think DC or their state capital is crazy. Lost causes of squabbling and chaos and infighting. And maybe they’ve come to accept that, or think they can’t fix it.

But they’re not ready to have their local schools turn into that.

They know their local school, and they largely value their local school system as a stable anchor of their community. It’s far more personal.

And regardless of party affiliation, if they sense that an extremist risks turning their own school board into chaos—or they’ve seen that happen on their current school board—they act.

They protect.

And that’s why all over America, a pattern I noted a few years ago repeated itself last week: to an impressive degree, voters kept crazy out of their school boards. Or kicked crazy off their school boards.

And because schools are a pillar of democracy, that really matters.

Taking the Gloves Off: A Case Study

Along those lines, I wanted to share a note I received this week from a winning school board candidate in a district near me. It’s a good example of how aggressively calling out extremism can succeed in a big way.

Here’s what he wrote me:

“Since you follow what politically works in Ohio more than anyone, I wanted to provide you with a quick example of what worked in my race for the Talawanda school board.

I was appointed to the board in 2024 after a MAGA board member and folks in the community bullied a member and his son. It didn’t take long for me to take this member on during our meetings. They ran two allies against me this November. These were right-wing candidates who did their best to seem normal.

I started door-to-door in the summer and ran a campaign that attempted to tie both of these candidates to the MAGA board member. I created an ad that I ran on digital and social media, as well as direct mail pieces, which were tightly targeted and complemented the Butler County Democratic Party’s targets for GOTV.

In mid-October, one of my opponents, Tom Heisler, roamed the halls of our high school during our school board meeting and took pictures of teachers’ doors that had a rainbow sticker. The next day, his campaign manager put them up online as examples of how Talawanda was teaching our kids “gay culture.”

I obtained the film footage of our halls and saw that it was my opponent. Our superintendent sent him a certified letter, letting him know that we were aware of his actions and instructing him not to repeat them. I informed our local paper about the story, and they featured it on their front page. The story exploded. I have attached the direct mail piece that I sent out a week later…To say that the Republicans freaked out would be an understatement.

This direct mail piece, one week before the election, destroyed them.

The results: I was the top vote getter in the race, even beating a popular two-term incumbent with whom I was running as a team. I started with virtually no name recognition and received 83% of the vote in Oxford. 65% in the Oxford Township and 36% in the outlying areas of Milford, Hanover, and Reily. I even was the top vote getter on election day.

Also, I caught Tom Heisler (my opponent) working as a poll worker in Butler County at the Reily precinct, where he votes. It took all morning for me to be on the phone and demanding that he be removed as a poll worker. That story got immediate coverage around the state, but it highlights a real problem that we have…

The lesson for me is the same one I learned a long time ago: in rural areas, especially, Democrats have to run extremely aggressive…campaigns to win. Put them on the defensive at every turn.

Matt Wyatt”

I followed up with Matt to learn more. A couple things came up:

The backdrop of chaos on the board created an environment where voters wanted change. Remember, Matt joined the board as an appointee after a school board member and child were bullied.

“Teachers have been harassed and are frightened. [One] school board member rifled through the teacher files….People had had enough. Disgusted by what’s been going on for the last two years….”"

But, Matt told me, going after this extremism aggressively was something some around him were worried about. Maybe it was “too much.”

“It really had to be proven that you had to do this…I knew by going to thousands of doors I knocked, that they had had enough of the nonsense. And it was so overwhelming….

But when my mailer came out, people on ‘our side’ [were worried] it was too tough. I just don’t think we were used to that.

But in public, I was bombarded. People come up to me—people loved the flyer….Because of all the chaos that’s been happening.

Democrats have to understand that people have the stomach to hear the pushback….Trust the voters that they don’t like what’s going on, and to use language that’s kind of rough and that people understand.”

Matt believes the flyer cut through with swing voters, but also motivated turnout among Democratic voters.

On Election Day, he felt it: voters came up to him and said “You’re the reason why I came….People had my mailer in their hand.“

Matt also could tell his opponents weren’t used to being put on defense.

His opponent had a “total meltdown”:

“He basically shut down his campaign. He was embarrassed. And his supporters kept putting the mailer up online to complain—showing the direct mail piece to even more people.”

One of Ohio’s finest county party chairs — Kathy Wyenandt, from Butler County — praised Matt’s effort.

In recent years, she said, more traditional/quiet school board campaigns had lost to extremists who were far more aggressive. Those extremists then caused chaos once they’d won: “It becomes a sideshow. Who suffers? The kids.”

“It was great to see an aggressive candidate like Matt come in and lift up his colleague.

It’s time that we take school boards seriously….You’ve got to have guts to get out there and work….He went for broke…[H]e really called out these crazy people.”

How Toxic are the Epstein Files?

Speaking of going on offense, buried deep in a recent poll of Ohio voters (conducted by Bowling Green State University) were some staggering numbers.

Numbers that show just how toxic the Epstein case is, across the board. Here’s a quick snapshot;

1) 84% of Ohioans polled said they are very or somewhat familiar with the Epstein case

2) 85% said is is very important or important to them that those involved w crimes be held accountable: 95% of Democrats, 79% of Independents, 78% of Republicans

3) 88% said the current situation with the Epstein case definitely or probably involves a cover-up by powerful elites: 89% Ds, 83% Rs, 88% Is

4) 76% said the Trump administration has handled the case fairly or poorly

- 55% said poorly

- 97% Dems said this (including 94% poorly)

- 86% Is (62% poorly)

- 55% Rs (20% poorly)

5) 81% said Congress has handled the case fairly/poorly (55% poorly)

- 92% Ds (76% poorly)

- 84% Is (61%)

- 71% Rs (36%)

Bottom line: In a very divided America, these are sky-high numbers, across the board. Especially after all the news yesterday tying Trump to Epstein, Members of Congress who stand in the way of releasing the files are embracing a lethal third rail.