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A Georgia Democrat is angry with her own party and lashed out at colleagues on Saturday, alleging they are attempting to take her “out.”
State Rep. Mesha Mainor accused her own party of putting the needs of people in the country illegally over those of black American children, adding on Twitter that she is “a sitting Democrat in the Georgia House of Representatives and the Democrat Party Establishment is looking to take me out.”
“I’m tired of hearing certain folks in my party chant Black Lives Matter during Election Years but are NOWHERE to be found any other year,” she added in a post containing a video.
Reports said that Mainor initially angered members of her party when she became the only Democrat in the state legislature to support a GOP-led school choice bill that was backed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
“I support parent choice because some parents have children in schools where their needs are not being met,” she said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“Why is no one fighting for young Black minds? Why isn’t that one of the things that we’re fighting for?” Mainor said of her fellow progressives. “I actually say you’re a hypocrite. That’s what I tell them directly. You are being a hypocrite. There are state lawmakers right now where their children are in schools that they’re not even zoned for… They’re lying about their address, state lawmakers, but they won’t vote for this bill.”
“In my district in particular, we have schools with 3 percent reading proficiency, 3 percent have obtained math proficiency by the eighth grade. And so to say that this is just how it is and that the kid needs to just suffer these consequences, I don’t agree with that. And I don’t think that all parents agree with that either,” she told the outlet.
I’m a sitting Democrat in the Georgia House of Representatives and the Democrat Party Establishment is looking to take me out.
I’m tired of hearing certain folks in my party chant Black Lives Matter during Election Years but are NOWHERE to be found any other year. pic.twitter.com/wuMdVBeCki
— Rep. Mesha Mainor (@MeshaMainor) May 20, 2023
School choice has been a topic of heated discussion for years, often sparking intense debates. Teachers union-backed Democrats have frequently opposed such measures, arguing that they divert funding away from public schools. Meanwhile, proponents argue that parents and children should have access to quality education opportunities and should not be penalized for residing in underperforming districts. They advocate for providing options that prioritize the best interests of parents and students, Fox News Digital explained.
In addition to their stance on school choice, advocates also promote the expansion of charter schools. These schools have experienced significant growth in Georgia in recent years and often enroll a majority of minority students. Charter schools are publicly funded educational institutions that operate independently and have the flexibility to admit students beyond their immediate locality. However, teachers’ unions frequently oppose charter schools due to the fact that their teachers are typically not unionized, the outlet noted further.
“We should be voting at times just for our district and at times for the entire state of Georgia,” Mainor reasoned.
Fox News Digital added:
The bill that would have expanded opportunities for students who attend Georgia’s lowest-rated schools was surprisingly shot down last month due to opposition from some rural Republicans.
Georgia Senate Bill 233 would have created $6,500-vouchers for students at schools performing in the bottom 25% in the state, to help pay for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses if they were inclined. Gov. Brian Kemp, R., pushed for it, and it appeared to have the votes to pass under the Republican-controlled Golden Dome, until 16 House Republicans voted it down.
It’s not dead yet, as it could still be brought for a vote at a later time. Any political battles in Georgia now attract outsized attention, given the state’s battleground status in presidential elections.
The bill’s failure was “so unexpected… that Democrats broke decorum and cheered its failure from the chamber’s floor,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
