Incumbent state superintendent loses in GOP primary to conservative challenger

In a surprise win, conservative challenger Michele Morrow won the Republican primary for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, beating the incumbent, Catherine Truitt by about 4% of the vote. Maurice, who goes by “Mo” Green won the Democratic primary with nearly 66%.

On the unexpected results:

Truitt fundraised almost nine times more than Morrow did. She seemed to have a lot more endorsements than Morrow, and she has more experience in public education having been a classroom teacher for 10 years, and state superintendent for four. Morrow is a far-right homeschool teacher and former nurse. She tried to run for office a couple years ago for the Wake County school board and lost.

Truitt posted on her campaign Facebook page following the primary election, saying she’s proud of what she accomplished in her term, including learning recovery efforts, and a push to bring professional development around the science of reading to teachers in the state. 

On the campaigns:

Morrow branded herself as the only conservative candidate on the ballot. Her campaign hangs on the idea that public schools are in her words, indoctrinating students, and teaching them “racially divisive and sexually explicit” content, which is really a coded way of referring to teaching about racism, or being inclusive of LGBTQ identities. Many public education advocates and teachers say claims like these are baseless, and are actually tactics meant to undermine public education.

But Morrow campaigned on those ideas, and accused Truitt of not being conservative enough. She accuses Truitt of not supporting the Parents' Bill of Rights, even though Truitt did support that legislation and helped pass it. In recent weeks, Truitt has been trying to correct some of that information and fight off those accusations.

On how the candidates say they'll approach the role: 

Mo Green was the superintendent of Guilford County Schools for more than seven years, and has also worked in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as the chief operating officer and then deputy superintendent, so he has a lot of experience in public schools and district administration. His main platforms are about revering public school teachers, fully investing in public education and advocating for more funding for public education. He also wants to make a point of celebrating the good work happening in public schools.

Morrow doesn’t have that kind of administrative experience or public education experience, and she has a totally opposite view of what’s going on in public schools. She’s concerned about the curriculum, and says there needs to be more focus on reading, writing and math. She also wants harsher discipline, and less focus on mental health and diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

A big part of this role is shaping the narrative around public education to lawmakers and to the people of North Carolina. Green wants to celebrate public education, and Morrow is generally contributing to the idea that public schools, as they’re currently run, are a bad place for children to be. 

On other education news from Super Tuesday: 

The Watauga County Board of Education has three seats opening this year, and only one of the incumbents is running for re-election —Marshall Ashcraft. He was the top vote-getter in the primary, followed by Adam Hege, who is an associate professor at Appalachian State, then Chad Cole, who has a background in emergency services.

Charlotte Mizelle Lloyd, who is a guardian ad litem — which means she advocates for the needs of children in court — came in fourth. Then, Alison Carroll Idol, who is a parent, and Tom Ross, who says he has decades of experience working in education.

There were eight candidates who ran in this race. Those are the top six, and they’ll be moving on to the general election in November. This race is nonpartisan, but Ashcraft, Hege and Lloyd were endorsed by Watauga Democrats and Cole, Idol and Ross were endorsed by the county GOP. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.