Conservative former Moms for Liberty member announces run for Brevard County Commission
Conservative activist and former Moms for Liberty member in Brevard County Katie Delaney announced this past week she would be running to represent North Brevard's District 1 on the County Commission.
Her entry into the race makes her the third Republican actively running for the seat in a primary to be held next August against former Titusville City Council member Robert Jordan and former Commission candidate Dwight Seigler, who has previously run as a Democrat and lost. Democrat Bryan Bobbitt and Libertarian Nathan Slusher are also running to represent District 1, which includes Port St. John, Titusville, Mims and Scottsmoor, as well as part of Cocoa. Republican Rita Pritchett currently represents District 1 and serves as the Commission's chair. She will not seek reelection due to term limits.
Delaney has been a regular in recent years at Brevard school board meetings where she and other members of conservative parents groups Moms for America and Moms for Liberty regularly speak on issues such as masking and transgender student rights. She was a vocal supporter of school board member Gene Trent and his choice of Mark Rendell for superintendent during the most recent hiring process. Delaney was also among the group of current and former Moms for Liberty members who previously lost a lawsuit against Brevard County's School Board over a change in their public speaking rules, which they claimed had a chilling effect on public speech.
Members of the conservative parents group — which was founded by two former Florida school board members, including former Brevard County board member Tina Descovich — sought a preliminary injunction against the public-participation policy implemented in the fall semester of the 2021-2022 school year.
The policy limited the time speakers could talk from the typical three minutes to one minute depending on the number of individuals signed up to speak and did not allow speakers to directly addressing individual school board members. That policy was later changed by the Board after a vote earlier this year to allow more speaking time for those attending meetings. Delaney's campaign did not respond to multiple calls for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.
Brevard County Commissioners serve four-year terms and make an annual salary of $60,272.98. County Commission races are staggered; Districts 2 and 4 held their races in 2022.
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at [email protected]. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Former Moms for Liberty member will run for Brevard County Commission
