Jada Langford-Fleming Defeats Denise Nystrom in Lee County School Board Race
FORT MYERS (FLV) – Jada Langford-Fleming won against Denise Nystrom in the Lee County School Board District 6 election Tuesday night. District 6 is an at-large district.
Tuesday was the second contest between Langford-Fleming and Nystrom. The August election resulted in no outright winner between the two. It resulted in a runoff, with Langford-Fleming receiving 39% of the vote and Nystrom receiving 36%.
Langford-Fleming lead Nystrom 51.53%-48.47% as of Tuesday night with all Lee County votes reported.
Langford-Fleming describes herself as a “longtime Southwest Florida resident” and graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
She said she decided to run for the position to “bring the education of our children back to the forefront of the district’s priorities.”
On the issues, Langford-Fleming supports “reining in the budget” via cutting “waste and excessive spending,” bringing conservative values to the board, emphasizing kids as the top priority, student safety, and “education not indoctrination.”
Nystrom platformed her campaign on “experience matters,” saying she believes in a good education, has served in education in various positions for more than two decades, wants to strengthen a parent’s involvement in their child’s education, and supports including the community on curriculum-building decisions.
She supported proposing a “needs assessment” and “forensic assessment” for schools to assess needed renovations, and to diagnose learning gaps and staff needs. Nystrom emphasized the importance to “leave politics at the door.”
Nystrom was endorsed by far-left school board member Betsy Vaughn, who virally attacked January 6th attendees who she said ‘stormed the Capitol’ and subscribes to Critical Race Theory-inspired ideas.
The candidate was also under fire for proclaiming portions of Lee County are victim to “systemic racism.” The phrase is commonly denounced by Republicans and conservatives, but Nystrom made an effort to make inroads with Lee Republicans during her campaign.
