Conservative Anchorage School Board candidates abandon plan to run together as one draws scrutiny

Conservative Anchorage School Board candidates abandon plan to run together as one draws scrutiny for her social media posts


Just over a week after a slate of four self-described conservative candidates announced a joint campaign for Anchorage School Board seats, three of the candidates decided to run separate campaigns and one dropped out entirely.

In an announcement largely targeted to a conservative audience, the slate said it would run as a group on Jan. 22. After the announcement, Judy Eledge, candidate for Seat B, quickly drew public scrutiny for social media posts on her personal Facebook page.

Screenshots of the posts, including one that denounces mask-wearing and extols corporal punishment as a parenting tool, began circulating on Twitter and Facebook. Campaign spokeswoman Bee Hanson claimed that several of the screenshots had been altered and that others were taken out of context. Hanson and Eledge did not provide further explanation on how the posts were taken out of context and did not specify which screenshots had been altered and how.

Eledge is a retired longtime Alaska educator and conservative stalwart who supported Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s campaign and has been the president of the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2021/02/03/conservative-anchorage-school-board-candidates-abandon-plan-to-run-together-as-one-draws-scrutiny-for-her-social-media-posts/
(Anchorage Daily News)