Three ‘Strong Conservative Voices’ Elected to Arkansas School Board

Three candidates who campaigned as “strong conservative voices” were elected on Tuesday to the Conway School District school board in Arkansas.

School board races in the state do not require candidates to disclose their party affiliation, but the Arkansas Times reported that that they can describe their stances on issues.

The Times reported:

Reflecting a national trend, the board races were politicized along ideological lines more than any in Conway in recent memory. Three of the candidates ran as a team, with their campaign materials all sharing the words “strong conservative voices.” One candidate, Linda Hargis, also described herself as a “patriot.” Hargis, a former teacher and school administrator, posted a statement on her campaign Facebook page Tuesday night thanking her supporters.

“It’s been an eye-opening journey to say the least.” Hargis said. “I will do my best to represent the values that you have entrusted in me.”

[Winner David] Naylor got his name in education circles months ago. In January, he was among 13 Conway physicians who signed a letter urging the school board to allow protective masks to be optional, not mandatory, during the pandemic. The board voted 6-1 to require masks, in line with a recommendation from a group of other physicians and the president and chief executive officer of Conway Regional Health System. The mask mandate has since ended.

“I believe, after the last two years of a pandemic, it would be beneficial to have a physician on the school board,” Naylor said when he announced his campaign.

The other winner was businessman Jason Sanderfer, who beat incumbent and former teacher Amy Ferdowsian.

Hargis, Sandefer and Naylor ran as a team, including campaign posters that had photos of all three candidates, according to the Times.

The Times included a remark from a professor who said holding the school board election with the otherwise partisan primary is consequential: “Janine A. Parry, a political science professor and Arkansas poll director at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said Wednesday that one reason all three ‘conservatives’ won is that ‘primaries tend to attract more partisan folks or the strongest partisans, so that’s going to be one of the consequences of changing school board elections to coincide with all the partisan positions.’”

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