Cobb Board of Education member David Banks was targeted in both the primary and general election this year, criticized as being out of touch and insensitive to minority concerns in the Cobb County School District.
The East Cobb Republican had his closest challenge yet on Tuesday from Democratic first-time candidate Julia Hurtado. She said Cobb County has “outgrown” Banks, a retired technology consultant whom some have accused of falling asleep during school board meetings.
After trailing through election-day results, however, Banks bucked the absentee-balloting trend that favored Democrats in Cobb County and pulled out a 2,639-vote win to earn a fourth term.
He was one of three incumbent Republican males who won re-election over Democratic women, meaning that the GOP will hold on to its 4-3 majority on the Cobb school board.
Banks won 21 of the 27 precincts in Post 5—which comprises the Pope and Lassiter clusters, and some of the Walton and Wheeler areas—and captured 52 percent of the vote, which was the lowest for him since he first was first elected in 2008.
“I was expecting 70 percent, but a win is a win,” said Banks, the board’s vice chairman this year. (Full results can be seen by clicking here.)
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Chairman Brad Wheeler of West Cobb also had a close contest, but was able to win by 1,800 votes, also against a first-time Democratic candidate.
The Democratic wins in countywide races didn’t filter down to the three contested school board races (another board seat was secured in the primary by Democrat Tre’ Hutchins, who will succeed outgoing member David Morgan from Post 3 in South Cobb).
Banks couldn’t resist stirring up the partisan pot in victory.
“I really hope people aren’t trying to believe in socialism,” he said. When asked who those people might be, Banks said “anybody who voted for Democrats. Why cut your own throat?”
Banks spent little and campaigned even less, using the reach of his e-mail newsletter and distributing some yard signs to get out the word about his campaign.
He was dismissive of Hurtado, whose daughter is a Sedalia Park Elementary School student.
“I didn’t pay any attention to what she said,” Banks said.
He did mention a concession statement Hurtado posted on social media, saying that she contacted Banks after the election results were in, and reminded him, among other things, that “I am going to be the airhorn that wakes him up every time he snoozes on our kids and our teachers.
“We’ve built an unprecedented movement and have already ignited so many important conversations that were never part of East Cobb before; I know we’ll continue to make change together, even if we have to go around him to do so.”
She lashed out not just against Banks.
“The men who will be keeping their seats on the school board couldn’t stick to the issues because they didn’t have anything productive to contribute to the conversation. They chose to focus on partisan politics rather than stuff of substance; I thought we as a community had evolved past that, but the demographics just aren’t there yet. These men went negative because they only know how to lead through fear.
“They spread misinformation and ran poorly-produced attack ads against a bunch of moms. In a school board race. They should be ashamed of themselves. I hope they’ll consider their very narrow wins as a referendum on this behavior. There may not be more of us yet, but there are too many of us to ignore, and we won’t tolerate this kind of behavior. Our kids deserve better.”
Among the attacks against Hurtado was a video ad that quoted her in an online candidates forum, saying she supported changing the name of Wheeler High School and favored revisiting the county’s popular senior tax exemption from school taxes.
Banks said he wasn’t involved in the ad, but didn’t like what he said was a “nasty” response from Hurtado, a “nasty threatening statement she made.”
Banks came under fire during the campaign from Democratic board member Charisse Davis for comments he made about racial and cultural issues in the Cobb school district, which has a majority-minority enrollment.
Davis said Banks was “spewing racist trash,” including comments he made about Cobb being endangered by “white flight” he cited in other metro Atlanta school districts.
He reiterated that concern after his re-election victory, and said that with a continued Republican school board majority, the Cobb school district can continue to have a “forward-thinking learning environment.
“If it had gone the other way, we’d be headed in the direction of Atlanta and DeKalb,” Banks said.
He said the biggest challenge the Cobb school district faces now is “how we manage getting back the learning process. We can do this more than one way.”
With the Cobb school district offering face-to-face and remote options for students this year, Banks said better integrating those programs will be critical.
He does support full face-to-face learning at the elementary school level, but believes there can be more of a mix of virtual options at the middle- and high school levels.
“Virtual doesn’t work for everybody,” he said. “Our job will be to figure out what works best for each student. There are many opportunities we haven’t explored yet.”
Hurtado thanked Davis and Jaha Howard, another board member Banks has lashed out against over the last two years. He’s not optimistic the tenor of a fractious Cobb school board will improve anytime soon.
“As long as those two Democrats continue to create chaos and not work for the best interests of the students, I don’t see anything changing,” Banks said.
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