Linda Vermooten kicks off campaign for State Board of Education

The Nebraska State Board of Education (NSBE) is a government body that largely went unnoticed by voters in recent years, whose members a few years ago were stacked 8-0 against conservatives. This changed during and after Covid, when a sharp focus on sexual content being introduced to young children, often without knowledge of their parents, came into view. This “culture war” in public education is now taking place in areas like Plattsmouth, where school board member Terri Cunningham-Swanson faced an attempted (and failed) recall petition, and the Papillion La Vista board voted to keep the sexually-explicit book “All Boys Aren’t Blue” available to in its libraries despite opposition from parents.

Since the 2022, the Nebraska State Board of Education has three conservative members — Kirk Penner, Sherry Jones, and Elizabeth Tegtmeier (districts 5, 6, and 7, respectively). Conservatives hope to flip two more of those seats in Districts 2 and 3, currently held by Lisa Fricke and Patti Gubbels. “It’s going to take a lot of money,” said Kirk Penner. “This is a $100,000 race for a job that pays a total of zero dollars.”

Linda Vermooten, a native of South Africa, and a clinical psychologist and former Counseling Department Chair at Grace University, is running in District 2. Fellow conservative Lisa Schonhoff is running in District 3. Their election victories would change makeup of the board to 5-3 conservative.

Prior to the kickoff event on Tuesday, Vermooten had participated in multiple events in District 2, including parades in Gretna and Otoe, Sarpy, Cass, Nemaha, and Johnson counties. Her kickoff event drew over 100 people, including people from both the “establishment” and “populist” factions of the Republican Party. Campaign managers for Deb Fischer and Don Bacon in attendance along with RNC national chairwoman and ardent Trump supporter Fanchon Blythe, a longtime friend of Vermooten.

The evening began with some excitement as two protestors, each holding signs that read “Parents against Penner,” allegedly tried to force their way into the venue, prompting a call to the police.

State senator Rob Clements spoke and started the evening by blowing on a shofar. Other speakers included Felix Ungerman, state senate candidate for LD3, and state senator Kathleen Kauth. Vermooten spoke on behalf of two bills introduced by Kauth in the legislature this year, the Sports and Spaces Act (LB575) and the Let Them Grow Act (LB574).

Vermooten preceded her speech with a Zulu song. She then spoke about her own history struggling with learning disabilities. “We are not privileged outside of America, as you are here. Here, you choose to education everyone. Outside of the US, you educate the educable. I was not in that category.” Vermooten also said, “You have lost this motivation in our education system. It’s like education has taken a back seat to something else. Why am I running? For the sake of the children. I stand.”