Less than a week after a primary election that saw the differences between the two candidates for Pinellas County School Board be less than 800 votes, the two candidates for Pinellas County School Board, Stacy Geier and Katie Blaxberg, began bashing each other on social media.

Geier, who led the field of three candidates in August, criticized Blaxberg as fiscally irresponsible and accused her of slandering sitting board members. Blaxberg criticized Geier as an extremist who lacks decency and called her “voter refuser Geier” in a post she later deleted.

Her race – which was controversial from the start – has attracted attention across the state.

“There is perhaps no better example of the contrast between moderate conservatism and MAGA extremism than this election campaign,” wrote a central Florida political blogger.

Geier is touting her endorsement from Gov. Ron DeSantis, U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Moms for Liberty, among others. Blaxberg’s supporters include outgoing board member Carol Cook, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the local teachers union and third-place primary candidate Brad DeCorte.

The battle for the North Pinellas seat is less significant than the primary because incumbents Laura Hine and Eileen Long won re-election, keeping their majority on the board intact despite pressure from the far right to flip it. That hasn’t stopped the political forces at play from emphasizing the importance of the outcome.

On the issues on which the candidates differ:

Employee retention: Blaxberg and Geier stress the importance of attracting and retaining teachers and staff, and that salaries must also be increased. They disagree on how to do that. Blaxberg strongly supports the district’s efforts to expand its property tax referendum to keep salaries competitive. Geier opposes the November ballot initiative and says the board should cut spending to free up money for salaries. But she didn’t offer specifics other than “reducing the amount of administrative overhead that we have.”

Student discipline: Blaxberg said providing mental health care in schools is critical to addressing suicides, bullying and other safety issues among youth. Geier advocated leaving such matters to families. Geier also criticized the district’s remediation program, saying it needed stricter consequences for misbehaving students. Blaxberg supported that approach.

Perhaps the most striking difference between the two is their worldview. Blaxberg said she will speak anywhere she is invited, regardless of political affiliation, to build a coalition. Geier has skipped several community forums, limiting herself mostly to Republican clubs, church groups and door-to-door talks.

This divide became apparent when they sought the support of the Pinellas Republican Executive Committee in early September.

In her speech, Geier used right-wing buzzwords and won applause for her opposition to Marxism, critical race theory, indoctrination and her goal of “keeping boys out of girls’ spaces and sports.” She pledged to support DeSantis’ agenda and called for a return to basics in education.

Blaxberg initially used her time to question the willingness of Geier’s supporters to attack moderate Republicans without censure, calling Geier’s behavior “abhorrent and undignified” before turning to her own priorities, such as school safety and mental health, as well as her desire to serve the community.

Geier received the support by a large margin. The result “really showed the huge gap between the extreme Republicans of the alt-right and a Republican,” Blaxberg said afterward.

Much of the race was spent drawing these lines.

Blaxberg, a former parliamentary aide to former Republican Rep. Chris Latvala, has been attacked as a “Republican in name only” for leaving the party for four years in protest of Donald Trump’s treatment of women. Some Vulture supporters have labeled her a “baby-killing liberal.”

At the same time, she has faced skeptics on the left who have questioned her past statements endorsing parts of the DeSantis agenda, such as vouchers. That gave the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association PAC pause for thought as it considered its support, President Lee Bryant said.

“It was a difficult decision, but overall she is the better of the two candidates,” Bryant said.

Geier, meanwhile, has been labeled a conspiracy theorist and a member of a hate group by some Blaxberg supporters. Blaxberg specifically pointed out to the Republican Executive Committee that Geier registered as a Republican in her 40s after years of not being affiliated with any party. Geier became politically active in 2022, criticizing the county’s COVID response as bordering on tyranny and calling for an audit of the 2020 election results.

Blaxberg also criticized Geier for refusing to provide basic information about her education and employment and questioned whether Geier would serve the entire district or just a fringe partisan group. Geier declined to comment on those issues to the Tampa Bay Times.

Casey Cane, a longtime North Pinellas Republican activist whose wife, Lisa, sits on the school board, said he believes his community would support a candidate who represents Moms for Liberty’s message if it weren’t for the local group’s divisive tactics.

“Leaders bring people together,” he said. “Losers divide people.”

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