TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school board candidates backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis were defeated in several counties Tuesday, a result the Republican’s opponents see as a rebuke to his conservative education program.

According to preliminary results, incumbent school board members in one of Florida’s largest swing counties appeared to fend off a challenge from DeSantis-backed candidates. Activists had hoped that three challengers backed by the local chapter of Moms for Liberty would win a conservative majority in Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

However, unofficial results show that current school board president Laura Hine and incumbent member Eileen Long retained their seats after arguing that a political change on the board could cause unrest in the district and distract from the mission of promoting student success.

In a third race for a vacant seat on the Pinellas Board of Supervisors, candidates Stacy Geier and Katie Blaxberg faced a runoff election after none of the three candidates received 50% of the vote.

According to preliminary results, Hine, the panel chair, received 69% of the vote after 100% of precincts reported their results. Challenger Danielle Marolf, backed by DeSantis, received 30%. Incumbent member Long received 54% of the vote, while Erika Picard, also backed by the Republican governor, received 45%.

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“We have to focus on the work at hand and not be influenced by the sociopolitical winds. Education is vital. And it has to be stable,” Hine told the Associated Press ahead of Tuesday’s elections.

In the third race for the board seat, Stacy Geier received 37% of the vote compared to Katie Blaxberg’s 34%, while third candidate Brad DeCorte received 28%, according to preliminary district results. Geier was endorsed by DeSantis and the local branch of Moms for Liberty, while Blaxberg argued that parental rights activists had gone too far, with some equating books with pornography and calling teachers “groomers.” She found herself on the opposing side of the local branch of Moms for Liberty and was attacked online by conservative activists.

“People are fed up with the misinformation this group of people is spreading and their intention to sow distrust in our teachers,” Blaxberg said.

Much of the political debate during the election campaign centered on “parental rights,” a movement that grew out of opposition to pandemic precautions in schools but is now fueled by heated complaints about teaching about identity, race and history.

Long, one of Pinellas’ incumbents, said she viewed the results as a rebuke to the governor.

“People want reason. People want common sense. And people believe we should educate everyone,” Long said. “The people have spoken.”

Incumbents in Hillsborough County keep conservative challengers at bay. In neighboring Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, two current board members – who landed on DeSantis’ list of incumbents he wanted to vote out – appeared to fend off challenges from candidates the governor had backed.

After voting in 100% of all precincts, incumbent Nadia Combs had received 52% of the vote, while Layla Collins, who was endorsed by DeSantis, had received 37%. A third candidate, Julie Magill, had received just under 10% of the vote.

Meanwhile, incumbent board member Jessica Vaughn received 58% of the vote, compared to 41% for DeSantis-backed Myosha Powell.

Collins and Powell were among 23 school board candidates DeSantis endorsed this election cycle to continue his fight against “woke” movements in public schools. Combs and Vaughn, meanwhile, boasted the support of the Florida Democratic Party, which endorsed 11 school board candidates statewide.

In Broward County, members appointed by DeSantis are being voted out. Meanwhile, in South Florida, according to preliminary results, two conservative board members appointed by DeSantis to the school board in reliably Democratic Broward County appear to have lost their seats to challengers.

DeSantis appointed Torey Alston to serve on the Broward board in 2022 after the governor removed four elected board members from office after a grand jury accused them of mismanagement and dereliction of duty. DeSantis appointed Daniel Foganholi to serve on the board in 2023 after a voter-selected candidate was unable to take office due to a prior criminal conviction.

When county voters had the opportunity on Tuesday, they chose to remove the two political candidates.

According to all precincts in Broward, the unofficial count showed Maura McCarthy Bulman receiving 51% of the vote, Foganholi 19%, and a third candidate, Chris Canter, receiving 28%.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Thompson, endorsed by the Florida Democratic Party, received 66% of the vote, while Alston received 33%.

The three elected incumbents running for their seats on the Broward Board of Supervisors — Debbi Hixon, Jeff Holness and Sarah Leonardi — each won their respective races by margins of more than 40 percent, according to the county’s unofficial results.