Supporters celebrate after transgender protection measures were approved during a school board meeting at the Loudoun County Public Schools Administration Building on Aug. 11, 2021, in Ashburn, Virginia.
Liberal candidates in the Loudoun County, Virginia, school board race have secured a victory in the battleground county that has become a culture war hot spot. Liberals now have a 6-seat majority on the nine-seat board.
The liberal candidates focused on Loudoun County’s reputation as a nationally recognized school system, championing its diversity and equity plans and shying away from weighing into the conservative culture wars that appear to be sweeping school boards nationwide.
The Loudoun County School Board is tasked with overseeing 98 schools that serve more than 82,000 students on matters ranging from approving the curriculum, setting policies, hiring a superintendent and setting strategic goals for the entire school system.
Though the school board race is technically nonpartisan, candidates usually win endorsements from either Republican or Democratic groups. All nine seats were up for grabs with only two incumbents running.
Loudoun County, about an hour outside of Washington, D.C., became a notable culture war battleground in 2021 after several contentious school board meetings garnered attention from right-wing pundits and media outlets.
That year, a pair of campus sexual assaults at the district high school, both allegedly perpetrated by the same student, prompted false claims that the suspect was transgender.
There’s no evidence that this was true, but conservative parents nevertheless began accusing school board members who supported LGBTQ-inclusive policies of failing to protect their children.