Texas State Board of Education candidate Mary Lou Bruner made a big impact on Super Tuesday, and you may want to get to know her. In a three-way race for the Republican nomination, Bruner took a whopping 48.45 percent of the vote. Bruner has made a name for herself in Texas and, now nationally, thanks to her controversial views that have little to do with schools.
On her campaign website, Bruner says she will “do everything [she] possibly can to make sure our public school students are taught the traditional knowledge and skills that have made America the world leader.”
Among the former teacher’s most talked about theories, Bruner believes President Barack Obama was a prostitute in his 20s to pay for a drug habit.
As the Texas Freedom Network reported, Bruner posted the theory on Facebook, last October.
Bruner also thinks climate change is a Marxist “hoax.” She’s said that school shootings began “after the government removed the Ten Commandments and the Bible from public school buildings, and disallowed prayer at school and school events.” And, Bruner has called for the country to ban Islam and “stop all immigration.”
Bruner’s ideas are a big deal to many who follow the field of education. As Slate points out, Texas heavily influences what’s printed in textbooks around the country. You’ll recall a Texas mother got national press last year after she raised concerns that her son’s textbook included a reference to slaves as “workers” and the slave trade as a “pattern of immigration,” prompting the publisher to issue an update.
Bruner will face a run-off against the second-place candidate in May.
Mary Lou Bruner campaign website photo
