The Teachers Association of Long Beach has poured roughly $45,000 into the District 5 school board race, lining up behind incumbent Diana Craighead and funding an attack ad that brands conservative challenger Maureen Flaherty “Too MAGA” as the June 2 primary nears. What is usually a sleepy local contest has suddenly turned into a high-profile fight over curriculum, parental rights and a looming budget shortfall.
Union Spending And The Ad
According to the Long Beach Post, TALB, through its Teachers Active in Politics PAC, has spent about $45,000 so far on mailers, opposition research, door-to-door canvassing and an online ad questioning whether Flaherty belongs on the Long Beach Unified school board. At a recent union meeting, executive director Chris Callopy reportedly told members “this is crisis mode” and urged them to “pay attention and get involved,” underscoring how seriously union leadership is taking the race.
Ad Page And Flaherty’s Platform
The ad’s landing page splashes the warning “Too MAGA for Long Beach School Board” across Flaherty’s photo and notes the spot is “paid for by Teachers Association of Long Beach / Teachers Active in Politics for Candidates,” according to the ad site. The Flaherty campaign, meanwhile, leans hard on themes of parental rights and vaccine choice, promising to “educate, not indoctrinate.” Her endorsements page highlights backing from a Los Angeles area Moms for Liberty chapter and conservative supporters including Chad Bianco. Flaherty’s team contends the union’s messaging twists her record and obscures what she says are her actual priorities for the district.
Cash, Candidates And The Budget Backdrop
The contest is a three-way showdown among Craighead, grassroots organizer Sara Pol-Lim and Flaherty. Pol-Lim has raised more than $19,000, Flaherty less than $2,000, and Craighead has taken in over $50,000, largely in the form of in-kind support linked to the teachers union, according to the Long Beach Post. All of that is playing out against a sobering fiscal backdrop: Long Beach Unified is staring at an approximately $70 million deficit that has already led to staffing and program cuts, per the district’s budget updates from the Long Beach Unified School District. With the numbers looking tight, union leaders say their support is aimed in part at protecting staff rights and existing programs that could be reshaped if a new board majority takes power.
What To Watch Before The June Primary
All three candidates are listed on the county’s finalized ballot for the June 2 primary, according to the LA County Registrar. The union’s roughly $45,000 investment, funneled into mail pieces, digital ads and on-the-ground outreach, significantly raises the stakes in a race where low turnout and organized field work often decide who wins. Local parents, educators and activists say they will be watching to see whether the outside spending shifts the dynamics in a district already grappling with declining enrollment and painful cuts.
Voters head to the polls on June 2, and the outcome will help set the school board’s direction on budget priorities, curriculum debates and staff protections at a time of real fiscal strain. Given the size of the teachers union’s spending, the District 5 contest has become an early test of how organized labor and other outside players can shape who runs Long Beach’s schools.
