DURHAM, NC – At a street festival in downtown Wake Forest earlier this month Michele Morrow walked through the crowd wearing a blue T-shirt that read, “Make education great again” across the back.
As she spoke to voters, Morrow drew on her experience homeschooling her five children to say why she should be North Carolina’s superintendent of public instruction.
“The majority of homeschoolers would put their kids gladly back into public school if they were sure that they were going to be safe, they weren't going to be bullied,” Morrow told a voter. She said parents don’t want “this worldview that is not their family's worldview, pushed on their children.”
That message might resonate with some parents but the election for North Carolina’s top schools official could be a referendum on Morrow’s track record for unfounded accusations and falsehoods.
She has promoted Q-Anon conspiracy theories, says some teachers are “groomers” and has said the “plus” in LGBTQ+ stands for “pedophilia.” On the campaign trail she often calls public schools “indoctrination centers.” Four years ago, she said former President Barack Obama should face a firing squad - which she has later said was a joke.
Morrow has never before held public office. Two years ago, she ran for a school board seat and lost. Then, in what was widely considered a surprise, Morrow won the Republican nomination for state schools superintendent by a narrow margin over the incumbent.
Her inflammatory rhetoric may have been what vaulted the newcomer to the party's nomination, according to Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina.
“These are all things that Donald Trump has honed and developed within the Republican Party nationally, and I think we're seeing that play out here in North Carolina as well,” he said.
“The real question is, does she only appeal to that Trump Republican base, and does she alienate a whole swath of North Carolina voters that she would need to win statewide?” Bitzer said.
The state’s elected school superintendent can’t decide school funding - that’s up to the state legislature - and the state board of education and local school boards wield their own power. But the superintendent administers the budget, implements laws and advocates for public schools.
Morrow’s opponent comes from inside the state’s schools. He’s Democrat Mo Green, a former school superintendent from Guilford County, one of the state’s largest school districts.
"I have actually been in a role where I have led and managed thousands of individuals, administered budgets in the billions," Green said. While campaigning, he says someone who is going to have to advocate for schools “should believe in our schools.”
Green says he didn’t know much about Morrow until the night she won the primary.
After seeing Morrow’s online statements, he knew the campaign had to be about more than the details of school policies.
“I'm thinking, we're at a whole different place,” Green said. “The very soul of public education is on the ballot in the election of this position.”
His campaign seized on another moment from Morrow’s past - her presence at the rally near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A Green campaign ad shows a video Morrow apparently took of herself there calling on “patriots.”
Morrow’s comments are repelling some voters. Erin Lynch is a private school teacher who came to one of Green’s events to learn about him after hearing about Morrow.
“I'm a pretty close follower of statewide politics. So you know, [I] knew about her pretty early on, and just am horrified,” Lynch said.
Morrow says even though she homeschooled her children for part of their education, she still cares about public education.
“I really want to get safety and discipline as well as academics back in the classroom, and not have any politics and all of the social activism that we have,” Morrow said.
Her pitch appeals to some voters.
“Oh my goodness, she's the real deal,” said retired teacher Donna Lubus.
Lubus says she is spending her retirement volunteering for Morrow’s campaign. “I love children and I hate what public school is doing to them,” Lubus said. “There is a lot of an agenda.”
Liz Schlemmer is an education reporter at WUNC.
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