A pair of elementary school principals in Texas are facing an indictment for alleged electioneering after they sent emails encouraging their employees to vote for certain candidates in the Republican primary last month.
The case involves 33-year-old Jesus Lujan and his 36-year-old wife, Lindsay Lujan. The couple are principals of different elementary schools in Denton ISD, located 40 miles northwest of Dallas.
In February, Mr. and Mrs. Lujan each sent an email from their official school accounts to members of their respective staffs, urging them to vote for candidates who stand with public education and against school choice, one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature issues this term. At least one of their emails linked to a website that rated candidates based on their support for public schools.
A copy of the leaked email apparently written by Mrs. Lujan also encourages teachers and staff to take time off from work to vote in the Republican primary election. “Our goal is 100% of Borman employees voting, because it is THAT important!” she allegedly wrote, though Borman is the name of her husband’s school.
“Since TX tends to always elect a Republican, we want to inform the party through our primary votes which issues we care a bout the most and how we feel about them,” her husband allegedly wrote in a separate email.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Denton school district, claiming the principals had engaged in illegal election interference. “Government officials everywhere are on notice that I will use every legal remedy available to me to stop school districts from influencing or coercing their employees to vote any particular way, especially when a district uses taxpayer resources and money to do so,” Paxton said in a statement. “Our elections must be completely protected from any illegal interference.”
The following video shows an old segment from KDFW reporting on the lawsuit:
Paxton and Denton ISD reached a settlement in that case on February 22. That settlement then paved the way for possible criminal indictments against the two principals, and those indictments were issued last Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Lujan have each been charged with unlawful use of an internal mail system for political advertising, a class A misdemeanor. If convicted, they face up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Lindsay Lujan has a hearing scheduled in May. Her husband has a hearing the following month.
BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales, host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” cheered the decision to take action against school districts and administrators who “knowingly break the law.” “For too long, teachers’ unions have considered themselves untouchable, free to not only indoctrinate our children into a radical cult, but now to blatantly interfere in our elections to suit their own interests, despite knowingly breaking the law,” she said in a statement to Blaze News. “I commend Attorney General Ken Paxton for holding Denton ISD accountable.”
However, the Texas American Federation of Teachers, a union supporting the two administrators, assailed the indictments as a “politically motivated legal attack.” “This latest escalation in the campaign against educators and school employees fulfilling their duty to promote civic engagement and using their voices to highlight the high stakes for public education in our elections threatens to have a profound chilling effect in communities across the state,” the Texas AFT statement said.
The district did not comment on the couple’s employment status but did give a statement about the case in general. “As stated previously, we agree that election laws should be followed,” said district spokeswoman Julie Zwahr.
“Our Board of School Trustees adopted board policies in 2018 and 2021 regarding elections and campaign ethics, and we train all trustees and administrators on these policies annually. It is our expectation that these policies be followed.”
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