Overlapping issues of the coronavirus pandemic, race-conscious teachings dubbed “critical race theory,” and transgender accommodations have created a potent political brew energizing Virginia Republicans ahead of this year’s marquee state elections.
Fueled by viral speeches and clashes at Loudoun County School Board meetings, activists and political figures gathered for a show of force on Wednesday aimed at organizing voters.
A crowd of around 1,000 people filled a Northern Virginia resort ballroom for a “Rally to Save our Schools,” hosted by 1776 Action, a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization that was inspired by former President Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission, and Fight for Schools, an organization founded by Loudoun County parents enraged at “woke” teachings in their school system.
“Imagine what it must be like to be a young child today. First of all, you got to wear a mask,” said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, the event’s keynote speaker, expressing worries about communication skills and sociological development.
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“Then they’re being told that they’re harboring some horrible fatal diseases. … They might give it to their grandmother and she may die. Well, grandmothers do get old, and they do die,” Carson said. “And then, if they’re white, they’re told that they’re oppressors. … If they’re black, they’re victims.”
“And then, if that’s not enough, you may not be a girl or boy,” Carson said, prompting laughter.
The largely white and older crowd did not hesitate to cheer for the lineup of speakers and panels that amounted to a small, school policy-based political convention akin to CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. Among the minor celebrities was Xi Van Fleet, whose speech to the school board calling what’s happening in schools the “American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution” went viral.
The goal of the event was not only to bring attention to their causes but also to gear up for the Nov. 2 election.
At the top of the ticket is Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin, former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group private equity firm and a first-time candidate is running against Democratic former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is seeking a second, nonconsecutive term. An internal poll released by Youngkin’s campaign this week found him tied with McAuliffe at 48%.
In a speech at the event, Youngkin slammed McAuliffe for lowering school accreditation standards. He pledged to raise standards, increase school funding and teacher pay, and expand Virginia’s now-small public charter school system.
“The theory in school called CRT, it came from his administration, 2015 it started,” Youngkin said, appearing to reference a 2015 presentation on critical race theory at a school conference. Loudon County schools have also paid for “critical race theory development,” his campaign noted.
“And he had the audacity to say that CRT is a vast right-wing conspiracy invented by Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin.”
Event hosts’ repeated pleas about the importance of organizing and getting involved with campaigning seemed to work. After the event, Youngkin’s campaign table was flooded with those seeking to sign up to volunteer or get more information.
Winsome Sears, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, rattled off statistics showing abysmal literacy rates in schools.
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“The school to prison pipeline has started. Don’t listen to me; that’s what the state NAACP has sent letters to certain superintendents to say this diversity stuff is not working,” Sears told the crowd. “It’s a problem. So if you have a problem with me being a black Republican, you’ve got a problem.”
At the end of the event, a number of state Republican candidates signed a “1776 pledge” to restore “education that cultivates in our children a profound love for our country,” promotes “curriculum that teaches that all children are created equal,” prohibit curriculum that “pits students against one another on the basis of race or sex,” and prevents schools from requiring students to protest or lobby.
