Wake school board candidate drops out. It’s part of a feud between conservatives.
A Wake County school board candidate’s decision to drop out of the race is the latest chapter in a running feud between two local conservative activists.
Kari Donovan, a conservative activist and journalist, had filed July 7 to run for a school board seat that represents much of Cary. Donovan filed paperwork on Tuesday to withdraw her candidacy, amid multiple social media posts by fellow conservative activist Sloan Rachmuth accusing her of being a racist and anti-Semite.
In social media posts, Donovan says she dropped out because of fear that Rachmuth would harass her supporters. Donovan denies she’s anti-Semitic, saying she’s an observant Jew and supporter of Israel who is being targeted due to her investigative work into Rachmuth’s group, the Education First Alliance.
“She is running a political mafia and the Republicans know why she’s doing it,” Donovan said in an interview. “That’s why I switched to unaffiliated.”
Rachmuth stands by her accusations, repeatedly calling Donovan “mentally ill” during an interview with The News & Observer. Rachmuth says she should be applauded for exposing a person who should not be in public office.
“We felt like we have warned the public,” Rachmuth said in an interview. “I think we did a lot of good here.”
History of legal action
Both women share some common beliefs, such as being supporters of former President Donald Trump and critics of President Joe Biden. They’ve also accused each other of being a “leftist.”
Education First Alliance has gone after Republicans such as State Supt. Catherine Truitt, accusing them of being too soft on fighting “the trans agenda.”
Both women also have a track record of legal action against each other.
In August 2021, Donovan filed a lawsuit accusing Rachmuth of not paying her for research that she did for the Education First Alliance. Donovan also accused Rachmuth of spreading lies to get her fired from her job as a writer for The Gateway Pundit website.
Rachmuth counter-sued, accusing Donovan of spreading lies about her and Education First Alliance that caused financial donations to drop off.
Both sides eventually agreed to drop their respective lawsuits in April.
While the lawsuits were going on, Rachmuth filed a civil complaint in November accusing Donovan of stalking her. Court records show that in December, a judge ruled that Rachmuth failed to prove grounds for issuance of a non-contact order.
Soon after the lawsuits were dismissed in April, Rachmuth filed a criminal complaint accusing Donovan of stalking her.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman confirmed the case was dismissed in June after consultation with Rachmuth and not based on insufficiency of the evidence. But citing the state’s automatic expungement law, Freeman did not provide additional details.
Social media accusations
Their conflict spread into the school board election when Donovan announced she would seek the District 9 seat in western Wake.
Rachmuth has personally endorsed one of the other District 9 candidates: Michele Morrow, a conservative activist who was in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 but says she did not take part in the riot at the Capitol with other Trump supporters.
Tyler Swanson is also running for the seat. He’s a former Wake special-education teacher who lists as one of his accomplishments being arrested during the Moral Monday protests at the General Assembly.
A third candidate, Tara Ann Cartwright filed on Friday before the filing deadline. The seat is open because board member Karen Carter isn’t seeking re-election.
In a video posted on social media this week, Rachmuth produced what she said were past social media posts from Donovan making statements such as “mighty Jewish of you” and accusing a Jewish critic of being a “Nazi.”
Donovan says she’s made 73,000 tweets so she can’t recall the ones being cited by Rachmuth. Donovan accuses Rachmuth of taking the tweets out of context.
Rachmuth also charges that Donovan was endorsed by North Carolina Citizens for Constitutional Rights, which has Facebook posts with statements talking about the “Jewish controlled Mockingbird Media” and the “zionist/satanist takeover of America.”
“We don’t believe she was even worthy to be on the ballot,” Rachmuth said. “We don’t know why she withdrew. We’d imagine this would not be good for her if these things came out.”
Donovan says she’s not endorsed by the N.C. Citizens for Constitutional Rights. The group’s Facebook page does include several posts linking to items from Donovan that are critical of Rachmuth.
N.C. Citizens for Constitutional Rights is part of a network of conservative groups that have raised questions about the financial operations of Education First Alliance. Donovan says the videos attacking her are part of an effort by Rachmuth to silence critics and cover up her activities.
“If Sloan and Michele get on the school board, what she’d done to me, she’ll do to everyone who doesn’t obey her,” Donovan said.
‘Staying out of the drama’
The fight has put some conservative groups and leaders in a difficult position. Several local activists contacted by The News & Observer for the story declined comment, saying they didn’t want to publicly take sides.
David Blackwelder, a former Republican candidate for Wake County sheriff, found himself being grilled by Rachmuth when he posted on Twitter that it was a good thing that unaffiliated candidates like Donovan were running for school board.
Blackwelder, now a Libertarian, deleted his posts.
“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of them, but it’s bad,” Blackwelder said in an interview.
Donovan has cited the incident with Blackwelder as an example of what she said she was worried would happen to other supporters if she didn’t drop out.
If she had been elected, Donovan said she would have tried to reach out to different groups to find common ground on the school board.
“We have to learn how to compromise with each other in Wake County,” Donovan said. “We’re a melting pot here in Wake County of different beliefs. It’s about our kids. Can’t we agree it’s all about our kids?”
The fight made its way to the leadership of the Wake County Republican Party, which is deciding which school board candidates to endorse. Donna Williams, Wake GOP chair, said the decision got a lot easier when they found out that Donovan filed paperwork to no longer be a registered Republican.
“As the chair of the Wake County Republican Party, I am staying out of the drama the best I can,” Williams said in an interview. “None of us have time for the drama.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2022 at 11:22 AM.
