An out-of-state PAC is trying to buy our State Board of Education. Please don’t let them. Jean Clifford and Destry Brown are NOT supported by this PAC and would better serve Kansas students and educators. Kansans fell for 1776 Project PAC candidates in local school board races in 2021 and soundly rejected them in 2023 after dealing with their chaos. Let’s not inflict that on the whole state.
“The PAC is spending $212,000 on races for the Kansas State Board of Education, according to a campaign finance report filed last week. The money is going toward mailers and text messages. This was the group that made news in 2021 when the PAC’s founder, [New Yorker] Ryan Girdusky, promised on social media that it was “taking over school boards whether you like it or not.”
“The 1776 Project PAC has endorsed former Blue Valley School Board member Jim McMullen in District 3, former Lansing School Board member Amy Cawvey in District 1, Alana McWilliams in District 7, Kelly Ancar in District 5 and Paola School Board member Kristian Gerken in District 9. [Note that McMullen and Cawvey were ousted from their local school boards.]
“It is spending about $61,800 in support of McMullen, who was endorsed by the group when he ran for the Blue Valley School Board in 2021.
“A year later, McMullen was stripped of his position as vice president of the school board in 2022 after a community group protested social media posts he sent from his personal account about the LGBTQ+ community.
“He lost his reelection bid to the board in 2025.
“The PAC also is putting about $75,700 into Ancar’s race and about $75,000 into Gerken’s race.
“The last time we followed the 1776 Project PAC’s activities in Kansas was in 2023 when it won just two of the 13 local school board races it played in and was shut out in Johnson County.
“The PAC considered the Blue Valley races among its top targets nationally that year, and Girdusky went on Fox News to highlight the Johnson County campaign.
“In 2021, the PAC won eight out of 13 school board races in Kansas and won two races in Johnson County.”
Originally posted on facebook on August 2, 2026