Once upon a time, there was a group of right-wing parents who thought it was a good idea to pull their kids out of public schools. They wanted to talk openly about their opinions with the school board and union leaders, but honestly, who has time for that?
Under the leadership of Randi Weingarten, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) decided to go all in on politics. The union believed the best way to serve their members was by electing Democrats, which meant they gave McAuliffe over a million dollars. Weingarten even hit the streets of Alexandria to knock on doors for him. Unfortunately for McAuliffe, Youngkin had the momentum in the final weeks of the race.
Youngkin received a boost in October when Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the FBI to help address the rising threats of violence toward school-board members. The National School Boards Association wrote a letter to the Biden administration asking for federal law enforcement to protect public school officials from domestic terrorism. However, Republican lawmakers and the right-wing media saw this as an opportunity to falsely accuse Garland of labeling parents as domestic terrorists. Youngkin quickly jumped on this, releasing an ad claiming the FBI was trying to “silence parents.”
Weingarten wanted to give McAuliffe one last push before the election, so she headed down to Virginia to warm up the crowd at his closing rally. Her staff asked for her to be given a speaking role at the rally since she had been such a loyal supporter of McAuliffe’s. The campaign didn’t want to say no, even though some Democrats worried about giving Youngkin yet another gift.
Weingarten had inadvertently played into Youngkin’s Parents Matter campaign earlier that year. A right-wing watchdog group, Americans for Public Trust, had gotten hold of email communications between the AFT and the CDC about the agency’s school-reopening guidelines through the Freedom of Information Act. The New York Post published the emails, dubbing Weingarten “Whine-garten,” and the right-wing media and Republican officials jumped on the narrative. Weingarten claimed the CDC had solicited the AFT’s input and that the union hadn’t suggested anything the agency wasn’t already considering. However, having a partisan union leader who had privately discussed the future of the nation’s schools with a government agency wasn’t going to help McAuliffe in Virginia’s politically charged climate.

Serious News: nytimes