Voters choose Gene Trent for final Brevard County School Board seat

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Gene Trent edged past Erin Dunne in the race for Brevard County School Board, paving the way for a conservative-dominated board.

Trent received 53.31% of the vote to Dunne's 46.69%.

Although School Board seats are nonpartisan, Tuesday's District 2 race between two teachers turned into a contest of Republican vs. Democrat. This election's school board races also focused on issues such as parental say, how schools handle lessons on race and student gender identity.

Trent could not be reached for comment.

Dunne said she is proud of the race she ran and grateful for the people who supported her.

"The results aren't what we hoped for," she said, but almost half of the district voted in her favor.

Going forward, she hopes Trent remembers that he represents all of the families and children in Brevard Public Schools. 

"All our children deserve to feel safe in our public schools and feel like they belong," she said. "It's our job as constituents to hold our elected officials accountable, and that is what I will continue to do."

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Democrat Dunne came out ahead of Republican Trent in the Aug. 23 primary. Out of 25,935 votes cast, Dunne received 8,708 votes (33.58%) compared with Trent's 7,727 (29.79%). But, because neither received more than 50% of the vote, they faced one another in a runoff.

Dunne faced an uphill battle, with the potential for supporters of the two other Republican candidates — Courtney Lewis, who received 6,963 votes (26.85%) and Shawn Overdorf, who had 2,537 (9.78%) — to give their votes to Trent.

With Trent's win, four of the School Board's five members will now be conservative. 

The board currently is made up of two Republicans, two Democrats and one independent.

Trent will fill the seat of Cheryl McDougall, a Democrat who is vice chair of the board and did not run for reelection. 

School Board Chair Misty Belford, the lone independent, was defeated in the District 1 primary by Republican challenger Megan Wright. Wright took 14,868 votes (60.53%) to Belford’s 9,695 (39.47%). Belford was supported by the Brevard Democratic Party, while Wright was endorsed by the Brevard Republican Executive Committee.

Some conservatives considered Wright’s win a condemnation of policies Belford defended.

That included student access to bathrooms and locker rooms of their identified gender; a fall 2020 mask mandate the School Board voted into place despite directives from the state to allow parents to opt out; and decisions to shorten public speaking times at School Board meetings.

Those issues played a role in the District 2 race.

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Earlier this year, Trent said he believes facilities should be segregated exclusively by sex at birth.

“I just think it's not the safest situation,” Trent said. “In my school, (with seventh through 12th graders), a confused seventh grade girl could go into boys’ locker room or bathroom with, you know, 17-, 18-year-old boys. I mean, we know how cruel kids can be.”

Dunne said federal nondiscrimination law requires the district to allow students to access locker rooms and bathrooms of their identified gender.

“Using children as political pawns to create issues that are nonexistent in Brevard Public Schools does nothing to improve the education of our children,” Dunne said. “If we're here to protect our kids, that means all of our children, so we need to focus to ensure they're all safe.”

District 2 is a central Brevard district that includes Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Edgewood and Merritt Island high schools and junior/senior high schools.

Other School Board members include District 3 Democrat Jennifer Jenkins, District 4 Republican Matt Susin and District 5 Republican Katye Campbell.

Jenkins and Susin were not up for reelection this year.

Campbell defeated Democrat Kim Hough in the Aug. 23 primary. Campbell received 12,111 votes (57.41%). Hough received 8,985 votes (42.59%).

Brevard School Board members have four-year terms, and have a salary of $44,609 a year. 

Campaign financing 

Dunne outraised Trent by more than $15,000, bringing in $55,743 in cash contributions (including $100 of her own money) and $2,593.25 in in-kind contributions (including $57.99 of her own money), and spent $40,222.87. 

Trent raised $40,480.52 in cash contributions (including $25 of his own money) and $2,552.28 in in-kind contributions, and spent $29,469.19.

Suzy Fleming Leonard is a features journalist with more than three decades of experience. Reach her at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Find her on Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard or on Instagram: @SuzyLeonard

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