Jimmy Glover, a Black parent from Sarasota, Florida, noticed his school district restricting books and pressuring teachers due to conservative influence. This influence came from groups like Moms for Liberty, which pushed ideological curricula changes erasing mentions of LGBTQ+ Americans and slavery. In response, Glover ran for the Sarasota school board to promote inclusivity and a focus on education over political issues. Recently, progressive candidates won several Florida school board races, reversing gains made by conservative-aligned groups in 2022. Of the 30 candidates supported by Moms for Liberty that year, 20 are no longer running or have lost their seats. Glover’s campaign highlights a broader movement resisting rightwing educational ideology across the state.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Jimmy Glover’s youngest children were in high school when he noticed their Florida school district taking an unsettling turn.
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district → notice → turn
Beloved books were being pulled from shelves.
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books → pull → shelves
Teachers were scared of being targeted.
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Teachers → target → ?
“There was this culture of fear that was permeating throughout the district,” Glover said of Sarasota county.
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Glover → be → county
By channeling anger against mask mandates in schools, the rightwing group Moms for Liberty, founded in Florida, built an outsized influence on school boards across the country in 2022.
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group → channel → 2022
Soon, members began pressuring schools to remake their curricula along conservative ideological lines, erasing mentions of LGBTQ+ Americans, slavery, racism and more.
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members → begin → Americans
As a Black dad living in a historically Black part of Sarasota, Glover said he was especially disturbed by governor Ron DeSantis’s announcement that Florida schools would begin teaching students that some Black people benefited from slavery.
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people → live → slavery
“Now my children and the students in my community weren’t going to be learning about the true history of this country,” Glover said.
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Glover → go → country
So the father of four decided to run for Sarasota’s school board this year.
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father → decide → board
He is part of a larger movement of students, parents, teachers and concerned community members pushing back against the influence of groups like Moms for Liberty in Florida public education.
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He → push → education
They wanted schools that were safe and welcoming for all students, and that focused on learning rather than scoring points on the national political scene.
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that → want → scene
And last month, they won.
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they → win → ?
Progressive candidates beat opponents backed by or aligned with Moms for Liberty in school board races across the state – in many cases reversing gains made by the group in 2022.
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candidates → beat → 2022
Of the 30 candidates the group supported that year, 20 have declined to seek re-election, have been defeated or will face runoffs in November, according to the LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Florida.
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20 → support → group
In Sarasota, home to Moms for Liberty’s cofounder Bridget Ziegler, progressives flipped the school board, with liberal candidates Megan Tennimon and Beth Mayberry replacing more conservative members (school board races in Florida are technically nonpartisan).
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races → flip → Florida
Glover got more votes than either of his conservative opponents, but his race will go to a runoff in November since no candidate won a majority.
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candidate → get → majority
When reached for comment, Moms for Liberty referred the Guardian to a public statement disputing the notion that the recent Florida election represented a loss for the group: “Moms for Liberty-endorsed school board candidates won or advanced in 11 of 15 races across Florida.”
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candidates → reach → Florida
But the group had issued fewer endorsements than in past elections and declined to endorse any candidate in several counties.
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group → issue → counties
That included Sarasota county, where board chair Ziegler, who has been plagued by scandal, was not running for re-election.
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who → include → election
Meanwhile, organizers for Glover’s campaign and others say the elections in Florida mark a turning point, a rejection of rightwing educational ideology in a deep-red part of a deep-red state.
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elections → say → state
And, they say, the victories hold lessons for progressives campaigning on the national stage in the midterms and beyond.
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victories → say → midterms
“We know that a better future is possible,” said Sebastian Martinez, president of the Sarasota Next Gen Democrats, a youth organizing group that helped campaign for the county’s progressive slate.
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that → know → slate
“We’ll work every day to get there.”
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We → work → ?
Students step up and organize
Glover wasn’t the only Florida parent concerned about the influence of Moms for Liberty over his children’s education.
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Glover → step → education
The group had success in 2022 by appealing to voters angry about pandemic school closures, and by joining the larger rightwing campaign against “critical race theory”.
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group → have → theory
But Moms for Liberty’s popularity has waned since then, said Liv Coleman, a professor of political science and international studies at the University of Tampa.
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Coleman → wan → Tampa
By the time Stephanie Vanos ran for Orange county’s school board in 2024, the top question voters asked her was: “Are you the one who wants to ban books?”
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who → run → books
“It speaks to the outrage at state censorship in our schools and the complete disrespect for the first amendment,” said Vanos, who won her seat that year.
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who → speak → seat
But that outrage had yet to be fully harnessed.
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outrage → have → ?
He started Next Gen Democrats last year as a way to expand young Sarasotans’ role in Democratic politics.
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He → start → politics
“I really wanted to see young people not just get involved in organizing, but to become part of the party,” he said.
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he → want → party
For youth, one barrier to political participation is money, Martinez said – they can’t afford to volunteer their time when they could be working a paid job.
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they → say → job
So to help recruit and retain young canvassers, the group offered $20 an hour.
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group → help → 20
“The Democratic party is supposed to be a party of working-class people supporting working-class people, and so it only makes sense to then pay people to work,” Martinez said.
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Martinez → suppose → people
Sarasota Next Gen Democrats recruited about 20 high school students to phone bank, knock on doors and distribute yard signs around the county, said Kennedy Cole, the group’s political director.
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Cole → recruit → county
They also helped decorate a school bus that drove around Sarasota on Election Day, getting the word out about progressive candidates.
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that → help → candidates
Students “were sick of what we’ve seen from our school board, and we knew that Megan, Beth and Jimmy would help return normalcy to it”, said Cole, a 17-year-old high school senior.
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Cole → see → it
“Students really worked their butts off to get those results.”
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Students → work → results
Youth organizers met regularly with other community activists, including a group of retired women who sent 7,000 handwritten postcards to Sarasota voters.
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who → meet → voters
A parents’ group invited candidates to a local park to meet voters while their kids played.
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kids → invite → voters
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
