Endorsements in Virginia school board elections, 2023

School Board Endorsements

2023

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Previous coverage: Conflicts in school board elections

Virginia held 388 elections for 404 of the state's 806 school board seats on November 7.

While Virginia's school board elections are officially nonpartisan, Ballotpedia identified ideological leans for every candidate who received endorsements based on the positions and policies supported by those endorsers.

Overall, of the 404 seats up for election:

• Candidates with a liberal ideological lean won 16%
• Candidates with a conservative ideological lean won 23%
• Candidates who received no endorsements won 61%

Those totals include uncontested and contested intra-ideological elections, which accounted for 57% and 11% of all seats up for election, respectively.

The remaining 32% of elections were between candidates who received endorsements from across the ideological spectrum, described as contested inter-ideological elections. In these elections, liberal and conservative candidates had win rates of 61% and 48%, respectively.

This page includes other analyses of Virginia's school board elections, including open seats and incumbent defeat rates.

Incumbents ran for re-election to 60% of the seats, leaving 40% of seats open, above average compared to Ballotpedia's historical coverage.

Eighty percent of incumbents who ran for re-election won, but 58% ran unopposed. Of the 104 incumbents who faced opposition, 48% lost, above average compared to Ballotpedia's historical coverage.

This report also includes a catalog of every endorsement identified, along with breakdowns among the groups that issued the most endorsements.

Local affiliates of the Republican and Democratic Parties of Virginia issued the most endorsements, with 123 and 77, respectively.

Of those totals, 99 Republican endorsees ran in contested races, 46 of whom won, giving them a 47% win rate. Among Democratic endorsees, 62 ran in contested races, 41 of whom won, resulting in a 66% win rate.

Use the links below to navigate to:

• Election results
• Ideological performance
• Open seats
• Incumbents defeated
• Endorsement information
• District information
• Methodology

Election results

Virginia held 388 elections for 404 school board seats in 2023.

• Candidates with a liberal ideological lean won 63 seats (16%)
• Candidates with a conservative ideological lean won 94 seats (23%)
• Candidates with a mixed ideological lean won one seat (0%)
• Candidates with some other ideological lean won one seat (0%)
• Candidates who received no endorsements won 245 seats (61%)

The table below shows election results based on the ideological lean of the winning candidate based on endorsements received. There are three types of elections:

• Uncontested, where the number of candidates on the ballot was less than or equal to the number of seats up for election, guaranteeing victory;
  
• Contested intra-ideological, where there was a contested election, but every candidate had the same ideological lean; and
  
• Contested inter-ideological, where there was a contested election between candidates with differing ideological leans.

Figures show how many seats were won by candidates of the given ideological lean or who did not receive any endorsements.

Virginia school board election winners, 2023
Ideology	Uncontested		Contested intra-ideological		Contested inter-ideological		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Liberal	16	4.0%	1	0.2%	46	11.4%	63	15.6%
Conservative	31	7.7%	7	1.7%	56	13.9%	94	23.3%
Mixed	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.2%	1	0.2%
Other	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.2%	1	0.2%
No endorsements	185	45.8%	35	8.7%	25	6.2%	245	60.6%
Total	232	57.4%	43	10.6%	129	31.9%	404

Uncontested elections

There were 223 uncontested elections for 232 seats, representing 57% of all seats up for election.

Endorsements are typically uncommon in uncontested elections.

Contested intra-ideological elections

There were 42 contested intra-ideological elections for 43 seats, representing 11% of all seats up for election. Intra-ideological elections are contested elections, meaning at least one candidate must lose, but every candidate on the ballot has the same ideological lean. This category also includes all contested elections where Ballotpedia did not identify an endorsement.

There was one intra-ideological elections between candidates with a liberal ideological lean, and seven between candidates with a conservative ideological lean. The remaining 34 intra-ideological elections encompass those contested elections where Ballotpedia did not identify any endorsements.

Contested inter-ideological elections

There were 123 contested inter-party elections for 129 seats, representing 32% of all seats up for election. Inter-ideological elections are contested elections featuring candidates with different ideological leans.

Candidates with a conservative ideological lean won a plurality of seats in inter-ideological contested elections (43%), followed by candidates with a liberal ideological lean (36%), and those with no endorsements (19%).

Click on the tab below to view full Virginia election results

Show more

The spreadsheet below shows results from Virginia's November 7 general elections. The leftmost columns show district names, the offices up for election within those districts, and the number of seats up for election within those offices.

Winning and defeated candidates are shown under their respective columns and are highlighted based on their ideological lean as determined by the endorsements they received.

• Blue highlights indicate a liberal ideological lean
• Red highlights indicate a conservative ideological lean
• Purple highlights indicate a mixed ideological lean
• Dark gray highlights indicate the candidate received only neutral or unclear endorsements
• Light gray highlights indicate Ballotpedia identified no endorsements for the candidate

Winning candidates marked with (WI) are write-in candidates who won elections for which no candidates appeared on the ballot.

Incumbents are marked with a dark gray square to the right of their name.

Ideological performance

This section displays win and loss rates for candidates by ideological lean, showing how they performed in inter-ideological contested elections.

In these inter-ideological contested elections:

• 75 candidates with a liberal ideological lean ran, 46 of whom (61%) won;
• 117 candidates with a conservative ideological lean ran, 56 of whom (48%) won;
• Six candidates with a mixed ideological lean ran, one of whom (17%) won;
• Three candidates with some other ideological lean ran, one of whom (33%) won; and,
• 88 candidates who received no endorsements ran, 25 of whom (28%) won.

Ideological performance in contested inter-ideological Virginia school board elections, 2023
Ideology	Candidates	Won		Lost
		#	%	#	%
Liberal	75	46	61.3%	29	38.7%
Conservative	117	56	47.9%	61	52.1%
Mixed	6	1	16.7%	5	83.3%
Other	3	1	33.3%	2	66.7%
No endorsements	88	25	28.4%	63	71.6%

Incumbency

Open seats

Of the 404 seats up for election, incumbents ran for re-election to 243, leaving 161 seats (40%) were open. This open seat rate was above average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.

Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 29% open seat rate within its regular coverage scope.

Overall, 99 districts held elections on November 7. Of that total, 20 districts (20%) had no open seats, 69 (70%) had some open seats, and, in 10 (10%), all seats were open.

Incumbents defeated

Of the 247 incumbents who ran for re-election, 198 (80%) won, and 49 (20%) lost. This overall loss rate was average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.

Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 16% overall loss rate within its regular coverage scope.

The percentage of incumbents defeated increases to 48% when looking only at the 104 incumbents running in contested elections, those where an incumbent could have lost. This contested loss rate was above average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.

Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 26% contested loss rate within its regular coverage scope.

Overall, 99 districts held elections on November 7. Of that total, no incumbents lost in 54 districts (55%), some incumbents lost in 28 districts (28%), and all incumbents lost in seven districts (7%). There were 10 districts (10%) where no incumbents ran for re-election.

Effect of redistricting

The above totals include defeats in four races where an incumbent loss was guaranteed. Due to redistricting, two incumbents ran against each other in the following elections, each of which was for a single seat:

• Mecklenburg County Public Schools, District 2
• Patrick County Public Schools, Blue Ridge District
• Sussex County Public Schools, Blackwater District
• Sussex County Public Schools, Yale District

Endorsements

Top endorsers

The table below shows the top 10 endorsers in Virginia in terms of the total number of endorsements made. It includes a hoverable column with information about each endorser, the number of candidates they endorsed, and the number of endorsees who won, both in terms of all endorsees and among only those in contested elections.

Top Virginia school board endorsers, 2023
Endorser	Info	All					Contested
		Endorsees	Won	%	Lost	%	Endorsees	Won	%	Lost	%
Republican Party of Virginia	About	123	70	56.9%	53	43.1%	99	46	46.5%	53	53.5%
Democratic Party of Virginia	About	77	56	72.7%	21	27.3%	62	41	66.1%	21	33.9%
Virginia Citizens Defense League	About	46	28	60.9%	18	39.1%	36	18	50.0%	18	50.0%
Middle Resolution PAC	About	35	28	80.0%	7	20.0%	31	24	77.4%	7	22.6%
Everytown for Gun Safety	About	34	22	64.7%	12	35.3%	32	20	62.5%	12	37.5%
1776 Project PAC	About	31	22	71.0%	9	29.0%	27	18	66.7%	9	33.3%
Virginia Education Association	About	26	20	76.9%	6	23.1%	24	18	75.0%	6	25.0%
We the People for Education	About	25	25	100%	0	0.0%	25	25	100.0%	0	0.0%
Red Wine and Blue	About	22	15	68.2%	7	31.8%	22	15	68.2%	7	31.8%
Equality Virginia	About	14	10	71.4%	4	28.6%	13	9	69.2%	4	30.8%

Top endorsees

The table below shows the 10 candidates in who received the most endorsements. It includes candidates, the offices they ran for, the total number of endorsements they received based on the partisan lean of the endorser, and their election results. Incumbents are marked with (i).

Top Virginia school board endorsees, 2023
Candidate	District	Endorsers			Result
		Liberal	Conservative	Other
Kyle McDaniel	Fairfax County School Board	50	0	0	Won
Ilryong Moon	Fairfax County School Board	42	0	0	Won
Chris V. Daniels (i)	Bedford County Public Schools	0	24	0	Won
Justin Wilk (i)	Prince William County School Board	22	0	0	Won
Carrie Rist	Prince William County School Board	0	22	0	Lost
Allison L. Spillman	Albemarle County Public Schools	21	0	0	Won
April Moore Chandler	Loudoun County School Board	20	0	0	Won
Hollie L. Cave	Rockingham County Public Schools	0	18	0	Won
Sandra Buck Anderson	Fairfax County School Board	16	0	0	Won
Anne Pogue Donohue	Loudoun County School Board	16	0	0	Won

Full endorsements list

The table below lists all endorsements identified by Ballotpedia among Virginia school board candidates in 2023. The list is sorted alphabetically by district name. Click the headers to adjust sorting or use the search bar to look for specific districts, candidates, or endorsers. If a source link is not functioning properly, all links were archived with the Internet Archive if possible.

District information

Student-to-teacher ratio

The map below displays the student-to-teacher ratio in all Virginia school districts. Hover for additional district characteristics.

Methodology

Terms and definitions

Descriptive endorsements

This research focuses on descriptive endorsements, those that help describe the stances or policy positions of a candidate. This is based on the assumption that endorsers tend to endorse candidates holding one or multiple positions that align with those of the endorser. If an endorser's positions are not readily apparent, their endorsements are not considered descriptive endorsements.

Examples of endorsers whose endorsements might be considered descriptive include political parties, issue-based organizations with clear policy stances, unions, current or former elected officials, and current or former party officers.

Apart from this section, any mention of endorsements refers to descriptive endorsements.

Endorser

An endorser is an individual or organization that has made a descriptive endorsement. Examples of which include, but are not limited to:

Individuals:

• Elected or former partisan officials
• Current or former party officers
• Individuals associated with a clear policy stance

Organizations:

• Unions
• Issue-based organizations with clear policy stances
• Political parties

Process

Identifying endorsements

Ballotpedia gathers endorsements using four primary methods:

• Submissions: Readers can submit endorsement information to Ballotpedia directly using this link. Ballotpedia staff reviews all submitted information daily to determine whether it warrants inclusion. Reader-submitted endorsements must include a link to a source verifying the endorsement to be included.

• Candidate Connection Surveys: Candidates who complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection Survey are asked to share any endorsements they have received. Any submitted endorsements will appear in the candidate's survey responses. Ballotpedia staff also reviews every survey with endorsement information to determine whether those submissions include descriptive endorsements to add to our overall tracking process. Candidates are invited to submit links to sources for their endorsements, but this is not required.

• Outreach: Ballotpedia staff contacts endorsers directly to request endorsement lists. At the start of the election cycle, every endorser will receive an email requesting information. Ballotpedia staff also contacts endorsers to clarify information and, if we see they have endorsed one candidate, to determine whether they have also endorsed others.

• Direct research: Ballotpedia staff conducts direct research, regularly checking all identified endorsers and relevant news media in each state. This research might also include looking at specific districts or candidates where endorsement activity appears likely.

Recording endorsements

Once an endorsement has been identified, it is recorded along with the date it was made (if known), a link to the source of the endorsement, and the date Ballotpedia staff learned of the endorsement. If possible, Ballotpedia archives every web source used to identify an endorsement.

For every recorded endorsement, Ballotpedia staff prepare a brief summary of the endorser. For individuals, this might include the party they are affiliated with, their statements regarding a particular policy, or their electoral history. For organizations, this might include the standards by which they issue endorsements, their mission statement, or any other statements regarding a particular policy. When available, Ballotpedia uses direct quotes from endorsers in these summaries, which appear beside each endorsement to provide added context to readers.

Labeling

After identifying an endorsement, Ballotpedia applies a partisan ideology label based on the policies the endorser supports or affiliation with other partisan organizations. Those labels are:

• Liberal: the endorser is either affiliated with the Democratic Party, supports traditionally liberal education policies, or opposes traditionally conservative education policies without also opposing traditionally liberal policies.
• Conservative: the endorser is either affiliated with the Republican Party, supports traditionally conservative education policies, or opposes traditionally liberal education policies without also opposing traditionally conservative policies.
• Neutral: the endorser is not affiliated with either major party and does not take specific policy stances, supportive or otherwise, examples of which include local newspapers.
• Unclear: the endorser would be of interest to voters, but Ballotpedia could not identify a partisan ideology, examples of which include former school board members.

As part of this analysis, Ballotpedia then uses the labels applied to endorsers to determine the partisan ideology of the endorsed candidate. Those resulting candidate ideology labels are:

• Liberal: the candidate received an endorsement from a liberal endorser and none from conservative endorsers.
• Conservative: the candidate received an endorsement from a conservative endorser and none from liberal endorsers.
• Mixed: the candidate received endorsements from liberal and conservative endorsers.
• Other: the candidate received endorsements from either neutral or unclear endorsers and none from liberal or conservative endorsers.

While candidates can receive a mixture of endorsements, primacy is given to liberal and conservative endorsements. For example, if a candidate received endorsements from liberal and neutral endorsers, their ideology label would be liberal.

Timing

Ballotpedia tracks and gathers endorsement information throughout the election cycle. If a district holds primary elections, endorsements are only added on-site after the primary date.

Voter registration

While most school board elections are officially nonpartisan, meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels, the state makes voter registration information publicly available. Ballotpedia used this information to identify each candidate's party registration in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Note: a candidate's party registration status does not necessarily indicate the candidate's personal ideologies. Many voters register to vote with one party and later find themselves more aligned with another party but do not update their registration as such. Understanding that their registration information is effectively public, voters may also choose a certain registration or affiliate with no party, with that in mind.

Ballotpedia first compared candidate names and school districts to the publicly available voter file to tie candidates with their party registration. The associated voter information was logged if the candidate’s name only appeared once in the school district. If the candidate’s name appeared multiple times in a single school district, Ballotpedia looked at each voter file entry to match the registration address with other identifiable information associated with the candidate. This method accounted for all duplicate entries.

If a candidate was registered under a different name than the one they filed to run with (i.e. registered as Robert Smith but running as Bob Smith), Ballotpedia used a variety of methods to pinpoint the candidate’s voter file information including:

• Looking for every person with the same last name as the candidate in the school district;
• Identifying known associates (i.e. children, spouses), and using public records to determine if any households had changed addresses;
• Utilizing publicly available social media information; or,
• A mixture of these three approaches.

Labeling

After identifying an endorsement, Ballotpedia applies a partisan ideology label based on the policies the endorser supports or affiliation with other partisan organizations. Those labels are:

• Liberal: the endorser is either affiliated with the Democratic Party or supports traditionally liberal education policies.
• Conservative: the endorser is either affiliated with the Republican Party or supports traditionally conservative education policies.
• Neutral: the endorser is not affiliated with either major party and does not take specific policy stances, examples of which include local newspapers.
• Unclear: the endorser would be of interest to voters, but Ballotpedia could not identify a partisan ideology, examples of which include former school board members.

As part of this analysis, Ballotpedia then uses the labels applied to endorsers to determine the partisan ideology of the endorsed candidate. Those resulting candidate ideology labels are:

• Liberal: the candidate received an endorsement from a liberal endorser and none from conservative endorsers.
• Conservative: the candidate received an endorsement from a conservative endorser and none from liberal endorsers.
• Mixed: the candidate received endorsements from liberal and conservative endorsers.
• Other: the candidate received endorsements from either neutral or unclear endorsers and none from liberal or conservative endorsers.

While candidates can receive a mixture of endorsements, primacy is given to liberal and conservative endorsements. For example, if a candidate received endorsements from liberal and neutral endorsers, their ideology label would be liberal.

Elections by county

Navigate to Virginia 2023 local elections overviews:
Accomack | Albemarle | Alexandria | Alleghany | Amelia | Amherst | Appomattox | Arlington | Augusta | Bath | Bedford | Bland | Botetourt | Bristol | Brunswick | Buchanan | Buckingham | Buena Vista | Campbell | Caroline | Carroll | Charles City | Charlotte | Charlottesville | Chesapeake city | Chesterfield | Clarke | Colonial Heights | Covington | Craig | Culpeper | Cumberland | Danville | Dickenson | Dinwiddie | Emporia | Essex | Fairfax | Falls Church | Fauquier | Floyd | Fluvanna | Franklin | Frederick | Fredericksburg | Galax | Giles | Gloucester | Goochland | Grayson | Greene | Greensville | Halifax | Hampton | Hanover | Harrisonburg | Henrico | Henry | Highland | Hopewell | Isle of Wight | James City | King and Queen | King George | King William | Lancaster | Lee | Lexington | Loudoun | Louisa | Lunenburg | Lynchburg | Madison | Manassas Park | Martinsville | Mathews | Mecklenburg | Middlesex | Montgomery | Nelson | New Kent | Newport News | Northampton | Northumberland | Norton | Nottoway | Orange | Page | Patrick | Petersburg | Pittsylvania | Poquoson | Portsmouth | Powhatan | Prince Edward | Prince George | Prince William | Pulaski | Radford | Rappahannock | Richmond | Roanoke | fRockbridge | Rockingham | Russell | Salem | Scott | Shenandoah | Smyth | Southampton | Spotsylvania | Stafford | Staunton | Suffolk | Surry | Sussex | Tazewell | Warren | Washington | Waynesboro | Westmoreland | Williamsburg | Winchester | Wise | Wythe | York

See also

• Endorsements in school board elections, 2023
• School board elections, 2023

Footnotes

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