Augusta voters reject school board candidate that sought to overturn transgender protections
With a third of Augusta school board seats on the ballot Tuesday, city residents backed all three candidates that were supported by the Maine Democratic Party, rejecting at least one challenger who campaigned on rolling back the district’s inclusive transgender policy.
The school board has made recent headlines for increasingly tense debates over the policy, which upholds students’ right to access teams and school facilities aligning with their gender identity, as Maine law requires. For example, earlier this month, three attendees stripped off their clothes during a public meeting to make a statement about what they described as the discomfort of cisgender students when asked to share spaces with trans students.
The school board election was seen by some as a popular referendum on the current policy. Earlier this year, several bills aiming to rescind protections for trans students failed passage in the Maine Legislature, but local districts have been considering changing their rules, and at least eight already have.
At-large incumbent Rita Pello defeated challenger Kelly Smith with over 58% of the vote. Smith told the Kennebec Journal ahead of the election that one of her priorities is to “uphold Title IX while protecting fairness in female sports.”
https://mainemorningstar.com/2025/11/05/augusta-voters-reject-school-board-candidate-that-sought-to-overturn-transgender-protections/