She presented herself with a huge smile, her words crisp and her gaze confident as she looked across the high school auditorium of prospective voters. In bedazzled shoes, a bright red dress, and a blonde blowout, she stood assured like a pageant queen.
Friends and family donning T-shirts with the words âMake Education Great Againâ sat in the front rows. They were eager to hear Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for North Carolina superintendent of public instruction, make the case that her lack of experience in public education is just what North Carolina students need.
âI think one of my greatest qualifications is I have no experience in a failing system,â she said in the October 14 debate at a high school in Pinehurst.
Her Democratic opponent, Mo Green, is a former district superintendent. Morrow boasts her 10 years of teaching high school science, Spanish, and civics. But she has never taught in a public school â only in homeschooling co-ops.
Sheâs also never won an election. Morrow sought a district school board seat in 2022 but lost the bid by more than 20 percentage points to a school educator. But now, the 53-year-old is running a competitive campaign to oversee an $11 billion budget and the education of 1.5 million students in one of the worst states for teacher pay.
Polling shows Morrow is leading Green by 1 percentage point.
Morrow is just the latest example of Republicans across the country, both appointed and elected, opposing the public school systems they intend to manage. Her campaign against Green marks the first partisan state education race in the country in which the Republican candidate has no background working in public education.
Jonathan Collins, an assistant professor of political science and education at Columbia University, said the nation is currently experiencing an âunprecedented momentâ in which candidates with no history in public schools are seeking positions traditionally held by education professionals. It mirrors Donald Trumpâs rise to presidency, signaling to prospective candidates that applicable political experience is not necessary for government leadership.
âItâs hard to not see this as a derivative of the Donald Trump effect,â he said.
To Morrow, her inexperience is an advantage.
âI am not beholden to a bureaucratic system that is robbing from our students and staff,â she said in an October 27 online town hall.
An Outsider Candidate
Morrow began delving into politics after she and her husband, Stuart Morrow, spent six years as missionaries in Mexico City. Upon returning to Texas in the early 2000s, the UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and registered nurse advocated against immigration policies she felt were too lax â arguing that weak border enforcement was enticing immigrants to enter the U.S. and thus separating Mexican families.
She sent her five children to public schools, where her daughter struggled in the system with a learning disability. âSo I thought, Iâm just gonna homeschool her for a year,â she said in an interview with The Intercept.
When the family moved back to North Carolina 10 years ago, Morrow had âevery intentionâ of putting her children back in public schools, until she said parents warned her of the âviolence, crime, and drugsâ present in the system.
Morrow taught in Christian homeschool co-ops, which she calls âparent-led micro schools,â for nearly a decade. She has stopped homeschooling, since only one of her children is still in secondary education and now attends a private school.
Before launching her political career, Morrow drew attention on social media through her personal X account, which is now dormant.
âI prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad,â Morrow tweeted about former President Barack Obama in 2020. âI do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death.â
The comment caught Obamaâs attention, who responded earlier this month during Harris-Walz rally in Charlotte.âI have friends who are conservatives, friends who are Republicans, we can have differences on issues,â he said to the crowd. âBut we canât have somebody saying just crazy stuff running your school system, purchasing textbooks, allocating resources for your kids.â
Morrow also referred to President Joe Biden as a traitor and referenced QAnon slogans from 2020 to 2021.
In 2022, Morrow ran for the North Carolina District 9 School Board Seat, which oversees 26 public schools just west of Raleigh. She said she heard stories of administrators giving insulin shots to diabetic students and became concerned about inappropriate medical policies in schools.
During the race, she made headlines for saying teachers should be allowed to exercise their Second Amendment right to conceal-carry a firearm within schools.
Her husband was accused of tampering with her opponentâs road signs. Police were called out, but no arrests were made.
Morrow lost that race by 20 percentage points.
âBureaucratic Bloatâ
But two years later, Morrow is back on the campaign trail. Her platform to lead over 2,500 schools and more than 115,000 educators and administrators as the superintendent of public instruction centers around embracing American exceptionalism and eliminating âbureaucratic bloat.â
Morrow beat moderate State Superintendent Catherine Truitt in the Republican primary in March, in what many have labeled a surprising, major upset. She defeated the incumbent with 52 percent of the vote, even though Truitt raised almost $300,000 more.
Morrow claims that she has âno special interest group donationsâ and no political party endorsements. Sheâs well behind on fundraising for the general election, having raised around $225,000 â trailing behind her opponentâs $1 million war chest.
Campaign finance records show one of her top private donors is Robert Luddy, the founder of a charter school system with 13 locations across three states called Thales Academy, contributing more than $12,000. Morrow has said that charter schools raise the bar for traditional public schools and supports school vouchers that provide scholarships for students seeking private or charter education.
Mo Green, her rival in the general election, is the former superintendent of one the largest school districts in the country â Guilford County Schools â which serves over 70,000 PK-12 students.
He has attempted to portray her as an extremist by highlighting her social media history.
During a public debate at Pinecrest High School, Green criticized her for attending Trumpâs rally before the January 6 insurrection with some of her children and for making controversial statements, such as calling for the public execution of Barack Obama and suggesting the plus in LGBTQ+ stands for pedophilia.
Despite the attacks, she remained unfazed, with her personal Twitter account deleted and Facebook scrubbed. In response, Morrow accused the media and her opponent of ignoring important education issues and instead focusing on divisive commentary.
Education expert Jennifer Berkshire notes that politicians like Morrow benefit from making inflammatory comments on social media to attract attention, likening them to online trolls. She categorizes Morrow alongside other right-wing education officials pushing controversial agendas.
As education races across the country become increasingly polarized, voters are urged to understand the significant power held by state education positions in shaping curriculum, funding, and student success.
Morrowâs outsider campaign has garnered support from various education stakeholders, despite criticism of her lack of experience. Supporters praise her commitment to teaching fundamentals and empowering local boards of education.
Critics question Morrowâs dedication to public education, with some expressing concern over her rhetoric towards teachers. The absence of more traditionally qualified candidates in the race raises questions about the motivations for running.
Ultimately, voters are encouraged to consider the implications of their choice on public education at both the state and national levels, emphasizing the need for knowledgeable and experienced leadership in the education system.
The state superintendent earns approximately $146,421 per year, while the highest-paid district superintendent in Mecklenburg County earns around $300,000.
Just days before the election, about 17 percent of likely voters are still undecided on the race for overseeing North Carolina public schools, according to various polls.
According to Jeff Spinner-Halev, a political science professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, Morrow may be negatively impacted by Mark Robinson, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who was found by CNN to have made offensive comments on porn websites.
Despite Morrowâs controversial comments and the attention she has received, she is not the top candidate on the ticket. It remains uncertain whether Robinson, who is polling lower than his Democratic opponent, will hurt Morrowâs chances or if she may benefit from any association with Trump.
âPeople are currently paying attention,â Spinner-Halev noted.
