AJC Politics: School superintendent candidate running on transparency, ‘parent choice’

Former state Rep. Mesha Mainor says she is running for state school superintendent because parents want transparency.

“They want to know what is going on,” Mainor said in an exclusive interview on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Politically Georgia” podcast.

Mainor, who represented a statehouse district in southwest Atlanta, switched from Democrat to Republican in 2023 after breaking with her former party on the issue of private school vouchers.

“I am definitely a strong advocate for school choice,” said Mainor. “I prefer us to call it parent choice because at the end of the day, it’s parents making a decision.”

She lost her bid for reelection to her House seat in 2024 to Democrat Bryce Berry. Now she is running against GOP incumbent State School Superintendent Richard Woods as a Republican.

“I believe that the Republican constituency wants better schools, they want their schools to be safe,” said Mainor. “That’s more important than who is the incumbent.”

This story appeared in AJC Politics, to read the full story there, please click here.