North Carolina GOP Nominee To Lead Public Schools Was At Jan. 6, Called Islam ‘Evil’

A conspiracy theorist who was outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, became the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s top school official on Tuesday.

Michele Morrow, who has long espoused anti-LGBTQ, anti-science and Islamophobic views, defeated incumbent Catherine Truitt in the Republican primary for superintendent of public instruction. Morrow would oversee the state’s entire public school system if she wins the general election in November.

Morrow has never held office and has home-schooled her children, according to her campaign website.

Her campaign was dominated by messaging about the supposed “indoctrination” of public school students.

In a campaign video, she lamented that North Carolina preschoolers were being taught that “men can get pregnant,” and claimed lessons about racial equity would make students “hate our country,” and “feel shame for the color of their skin.”

“You better believe our teachers will be well-versed in the true history of our great nation,” she said in the video.

She also said she would invest in video surveillance and police officers in schools, in what she described as an effort to curtail on-campus violence and fights. “We must bring order and civility back to every classroom,” she said.

Morrow defeated Truitt, who among other things was former Gov. Pat McCrory’s ® senior education adviser, by a four-point margin. In November she will face off against formerGuilford County Superintendent Mo Green, who won the Democratic primary with 66% of the vote, The News & Observer reported.

Truitt was the only member of the Council of State, equivalent to a state Cabinet, who lost their primary, The News & Observer noted.

Morrow’s campaign rhetoric — which echoes that of many