2024 File photo: Then-state Rep. Mesha Mainor argues in support of a school voucher bill. Ousted from the Legislature after switching parties, MAinor is running as a Republican to be the next state school superintendent. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
A former state representative who switched parties over Georgia’s school voucher plan is joining the race for Georgia School Superintendent as a Republican.
Former Democrat Mesha Mainor became the state Legislature’s first Black Republican woman when she joined the GOP in 2023 following friction over her full-throated support of a proposed voucher bill that passed with her support. The program, which began this year, allows some parents to receive $6,500 in state funds from their local school district if they take their child out of public school and place them into private school or educate them at home.
“I’m running to give parents a voice, protect our children, and make Georgia the number one place to educate a child no matter where the child lives,” Mainor said in a statement announcing her candidacy. “Excellence in Georgia’s classrooms will no longer be a vision. Together with the phenomenal teachers of Georgia in every classroom, school administrators, all school staff, and policy leaders — Georgia will be the number one state to live, work, and educate.”
Kemp signed the controversial voucher bill last April, and Mainor lost her seat the following November, receiving only 16% of the vote in her heavily Democratic district. Mainor and other voucher supporters say they help children in low-performing districts attain a good education that would otherwise be out of reach. Opponents say the program shuffles state dollars into private institutions with little oversight or quality control.
In a phone call Tuesday, Mainor said if she is elected, she will consider expanding the state’s voucher program and work to promote curriculum transparency. She said she will promote workforce readiness in addition to academics, and ensure children are not “indoctrinated” in the classroom, a common concern among rightwing education advocates.
Three other Republicans also have their eyes on becoming Georgia’s next top educator, but they will all have to first convince GOP voters that a change is needed. Three-term incumbent Richard Woods announced his re-election campaign earlier this summer.
Mainor said she’s the best person for the job because of her experience, including founding a language immersion school.
“No other candidate can say ‘I’ve been a legislator before,’ and right now, right at this moment, I know what it’s like to be a parent for a K-12 child and one that just recently went to college,” she said.
Mainor said GOP primary voters can trust her to carry out a conservative agenda despite her past membership with the Democratic Party because she has the zeal of a convert.
“It’s those new Christians that often have more faith than old Christians,” she said. “So to say that I just switched parties, what it means is that I understand what the value systems are of the Republican Party, and that’s why I made such a dramatic switch. It was not easy to make the switch. I was ridiculed. I had racist attacks put on me. I mean, if you look back at my social media after I switched parties, that was a very trying and traumatic time for me, but I stood strong because I was convicted in why I was changing parties.”
Woods, who was first elected in 2014, previously worked for three decades as a teacher and school administrator. Next year will represent the first time Woods has faced multiple primary challengers since he came into office. In 2018 and 2022, he faced off against former state superintendent John Barge but won by comfortable margins both times.
“As State School Superintendent, I have focused on transforming the Georgia Department of Education from a compliance-oriented agency to one centered on service and support for school districts,” Woods said in a June statement announcing his candidacy. “That vision will continue and, as I seek a fourth term, I am committed to expanding the resources and supports we provide directly to teachers.”
Woods is one of Georgia’s few statewide office holders not restricted by term limits or seeking higher office in 2026, but he’s still attracted a line of people hoping to take his job.
Among the Republicans competing with Mainor to take Woods’ seat in May’s GOP primary will be Fred “Bubba” Longgrear, a 29-year educator who currently serves as superintendent in Candler County, Randell Trammell, president and CEO of the Georgia Center for Civic Engagement, a nonprofit focused on expanding civics education, and businesswoman Nelva Lee.
Woods enters the race with more than $58,000 cash on hand, according to financial disclosures. Trammell, the only other candidate to have filed a financial disclosure, reported just over $51,000 in his pocket after loaning his campaign $20,000.
No Democrat has so far announced or filed paperwork to run.
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