Virginia Teachers Weaponized Classrooms, Promoted Dem Gerrymandering Vote
Kelly Sadler, the Newsmax host and the commentary editor for The Washington Times, is sounding the alarm after teachers in Fairfax County weaponized their classrooms by telling students to make sure their parents voted in favor of a radical redistricting plan.
The effort by Democrats to all but erase four Republican-leaning congressional districts was approved Tuesday by voters.
During an appearance on The Todd Starnes Show, Sadler detailed what she described as firsthand accounts from her own children in Virginia public schools, alleging that educators are crossing a line from instruction into outright political advocacy. Her concerns were also laid out in a recent column for the The Washington Times, where she warned that classrooms are becoming “an arm of the Democratic Party.”
“Yeah. In civics class I think they took that as an invitation to teach the children what party they should belong to,” Sadler told host Todd Starnes. “Progressivism, Democrats, Obama—and that the conservatives are aligned with Donald Trump. They’re going to steal the elections in the midterm and you need to go out and tell your parents to vote yes on this referendum.”
Sadler said the issue came to her attention after a startling conversation with her sons, who came home from school urging her to support a political referendum.
“Well, as soon as they jumped in the car—Marcus goes, ‘So mom, you’re gonna vote yes in the election on Tuesday?’” she recalled. “And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he was just like, ‘Yeah, well that’s all our civics class was about today—about the importance of passing this referendum to restore fairness in our elections and to stop Donald Trump.’”
The exchange, she said, revealed a one-sided narrative being presented in the classroom—one that left out key perspectives.
“I said, ‘You know how I’m going to vote. I’m voting no. Did this teacher in this civics class also tell you how basically Virginia is a state that Kamala Harris won by 51 percent?’” Sadler continued. “The boys were like, ‘No, we didn’t hear that. We didn’t hear that version.’”
Sadler’s account raises broader concerns about whether students are being exposed to balanced viewpoints—or instead being encouraged to adopt specific political positions.
In her Washington Times column, Sadler wrote that “two different teachers urged students to go home and persuade their parents to vote yes,” describing the effort as coordinated and inappropriate for an educational setting. She argued that such actions blur the line between education and activism, particularly when directed at minors.
Back on The Todd Starnes Show, Sadler went further, suggesting that what her children experienced is not an isolated incident.
“Since I got that story out, other parents in the district have come to me and told me similar stories,” she said. “As young as in the second grade saying, ‘Mom, you need to go out and vote yes.’”
She added, “So this is a coordinated effort amongst the teachers union to get the teachers as actively involved politically as they possibly can.”
One of the most concerning aspects, Sadler said, is how students are reacting—often choosing silence out of fear of repercussions.
“My sons were also very fearful of retaliation,” she explained. “They did not want their teacher’s names to be printed. They didn’t want the name of their school to be printed. They’re worried I’m gonna cause them a lot of trouble in the classroom.”
In one particularly striking moment, Sadler recounted how her son attempted to deflect a teacher’s question about her political views.
“The teacher said, ‘Well, how does your mom feel about it?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know. She’s been dead for two years now,’” Sadler said. “So these kids are self-censoring. They’re scared and they’re fearful of going against the indoctrination that is happening in these classrooms.”
Sadler emphasized that her children are not politically active and should not be placed in the middle of ideological battles.
“They’re only 14-year-old boys who just want to go along to get along,” she said. “They’re not politically active like I am… I shouldn’t have to counter program them when they come back from school.”
As debates over education and parental rights continue to intensify nationwide, Sadler’s experience underscores a growing concern among some families—that schools may be straying from their core mission.
Whether school districts will respond to such allegations remains to be seen. But for Sadler, the issue is clear: classrooms should be places of learning, not political persuasion.