PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Several races in the Tampa Bay area remain undecided after the Florida Primary Election, including school board seats.
Leading up to the primary, Gov. Ron DeSantis backed 23 school board race candidates across the Sunshine State, including here locally. Only six of those DeSantis-backed candidates won their primary outright; another six candidates are going to a runoff.
That's the case for one seat on the Pinellas County School Board. On Tuesday, none of the three candidates vying for District 5 reached 50 percent of the vote.
The two candidates with the most votes, Stacy Geier and Katie Blaxberg, will be on the ballot in November where voters will choose between them. The district's incumbent Carol Cook did not seek reelection.
DeSantis-backed Geier also has endorsements from the county chapter of Moms for Liberty and Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who represents much of Pinellas County in Congress. Current school board members Dawn Peters and Stephanie Meyer have also endorsed Geier. Both women were previously endorsed by Moms for Liberty back in 2022.
Moms for Liberty, co-founded in 2021 by current Sarasota County school board member Bridget Zeigler, advocates for parental rights in schools and has been labeled an "extremist" group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its opposition to COVID-19 public health regulations and LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculum. The group has also been a large advocate for book bans.
Blaxberg also sports endorsements, with the highest profile coming from Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
Geier wasn't the only Pinellas County School Board candidate with support from DeSantis and Moms for Liberty. All three school board seats that are up for election had a candidate with those same two endorsements. District 1 incumbent Laura Hine and District 4 incumbent Eileen Long defeated their opponents.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.