Cy-Fair ISD Election: How Grassroots Efforts Shifted Power

The recent Cy-Fair ISD school board election delivered a significant upset, breaking a conservative majority and catching national attention, including a congratulatory call from former Vice President Kamala Harris. This victory by a slate of three candidates has sent ripples across Houston and beyond, highlighting the impact of organized local activism.

A Shift in Cy-Fair ISD Leadership

On November 4, Lesley Guilmart, Kendra Camarena, and Cleveland Lane Jr. secured their seats on the Cy-Fair ISD Board of Trustees, overturning a 6-1 conservative majority established in 2023. This conservative bloc had previously implemented controversial policies regarding library books, textbook content, and restrictions on discussions about gender identity.

Lesley Guilmart recounted her surprise when former Vice President Kamala Harris called to congratulate her on the win. While Harris’s team confirmed the call, details remained private. Guilmart noted the call might signify a renewed Democratic focus on local elections, emphasizing that their victory was due to “bipartisan collaboration and a message that resonated with many people from across the political spectrum.”

The Strategy Behind the Sweep

The wins were not sudden, but the result of years of meticulous planning. Odus Evbagharu, a strategist for the campaigns and former chair of Harris County Democrats, reflected on the 2023 losses, stating, “We had to lose. We had to fail before we were gonna succeed because we had to learn a lot of lessons.”

Over two years, a coalition of local leaders and organizations, including Cy-Fair Community Voices, Cy-Fair Strong Schools, Cy-Fair American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and Cypress Families for Public Schools, worked to retool their approach. Key changes for the 2025 election included:

• An exhaustive candidate screening process, interviewing both Republicans and Democrats.
• Heavy investment in canvassing, particularly in targeted, diverse areas of south Cypress.
• Choosing a diverse slate of candidates representative of the community.
• Making campaign literature available in multiple languages, including Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Spanish, from the outset.
• A clear, unifying message: “Folks wanted the school board to be boring again,” which was encapsulated in the slogan, “No book bans, no bus cuts, no bull.”

Targeting South Cypress

Evbagharu, who grew up in south Cypress, stressed the importance of connecting with voters in this racially diverse and less affluent part of the district. “We had to win the south. That was our motto,” he stated. Campaign efforts focused on neighborhoods south of FM 529, where community events proved instrumental. In one such precinct, Guilmart and Camarena garnered roughly twice as many votes as their opponents, and Lane performed even more strongly, winning nearly four times as many votes as the ousted board president, Scott Henry.

Conservative Infighting: An Unintended Advantage

The conservative majority’s internal divisions also played a role. Board vice president Natalie Blasingame chose to run against her former ally, board president Scott Henry, for the District 6 seat. This infighting split the conservative voter bloc, contributing to Cleveland Lane Jr.’s decisive victory over both incumbents. As Tara Cummings, a partner in the Cy-Fair Community Voices coalition, observed, “Their infighting and all of the chaos and they’re shenanigans absolutely helped us.”

Looking Ahead

The success in Cy-Fair ISD is already being studied by other school districts across Texas, including Klein ISD, Fort Bend ISD, and Midland ISD, which have reached out to learn from this model. The comprehensive strategy—from rigorous candidate selection and targeted outreach to clear, inclusive messaging—offers a blueprint for communities seeking to influence local governance.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What prompted the shift in the Cy-Fair ISD school board?
  The 2025 election saw a slate of three candidates successfully challenge a conservative majority that had enacted policies restricting library books, textbook content, and discussions on gender identity.
• Who congratulated the winning candidates?
  Former Vice President Kamala Harris called Lesley Guilmart, one of the newly elected trustees, to offer her congratulations.
• What were the key strategies that led to the slate’s victory?
  Strategies included learning from previous losses, extensive candidate screening, targeted canvassing in diverse areas, making literature available in multiple languages, and a clear campaign message focused on returning the school board to basic educational priorities.
• How did internal divisions among conservative incumbents affect the election?
  When two conservative incumbents ran against each other for the same seat, it split their voter base, indirectly aiding the victory of the opposing candidate, Cleveland Lane Jr.

The Cy-Fair ISD election serves as a powerful reminder of how sustained grassroots efforts and strategic local engagement can reshape leadership and policy in our communities, proving that local elections often have wide-reaching implications.

CyFair ISD Election Grassroots Efforts Shift Power