North Carolina schools chief loses primary to home-schooling parent critical of ‘radical agendas’

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s public schools superintendent and some state legislators won’t be returning to their positions in 2025 after primary defeats by challengers who questioned their rivals’ commitment to social conservatism or a Democratic agenda.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt lost Tuesday’s Republican primary to Michele Morrow, a home-schooling parent and conservative activist who has accused public schools of indoctrinating students with left-leaning views on race and gender.

Also on Tuesday, six-term Democratic Sen. Mike Woodard from Durham County, who voted to overturn a few of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes, lost his primary to a self-proclaimed progressive.

Truitt, in her first term as schools’ chief, led the Department of Public Instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic and later recovery, and implemented a new legislature-backed plan to improve reading skills in early grades. She had reelection support from dozens of General Assembly members and North Carolina Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.

But Morrow, a nurse and former Christian missionary who ran unsuccessfully for the Wake County school board in 2022, accused Truitt of not being conservative enough. Morrow collected support from rural education leaders.

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