Conservative activist Nicholas “Corn Pop” Blanchard lost his special election for the Augusta School Board’s open at-large seat on Tuesday to the radical leftist policy director of Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP), Gabi Berube Pierce.
“Would I have liked a different outcome? ABSOLUTELY. Am I mad? NOPE. I knew from DAY ONE this was gonna be an UPHILL BATTLE. I’m not a politician. I’m not part of the ESTABLISHMENT. I’m just a regular guy who got tired of watching what was happening in our schools and decided to stand up and FIGHT FOR OUR KIDS,” said Blanchard in a social media post on Wednesday.
“This campaign was never just about ONE ELECTION. It was about WAKING PEOPLE UP. It was about getting people involved. It was about proving that regular people can still stand up and make their voices heard. AND WE DID THAT. As for me? THE FIGHT ISN’T OVER,” Blanchard added.
Blanchard promised that, despite his loss, he will continue showing up to school board meetings, and thanked the Augusta residents who supported his campaign.
According to the unofficial results posted on the Augusta town website, Pierce won by a significant margin, taking 2,577 votes, 67.2 percent, compared with Blanchard’s 1,258 votes, 32.8 percent; 349 ballots either left the position blank or wrote in a candidate.
Blanchard, an Augusta resident, first announced his election bid in November, amid an ongoing controversy with the school board, beginning with a dispute over their policy of allowing trans-identifying males into girls’ sports and spaces, and leading to him being repeatedly prevented from speaking at meetings by School Board Chair Martha Witham.
In his campaign announcement, Blanchard vowed that “I’m ripping out every last woke policy they force-fed us, starting day one.”
Since before his campaign began, Blanchard has been a controversial activist with an abrasive and confrontational style that often involves him dressing in an American flag suit and shouting at those with whom he disagrees politically.
Despite his aggressive persona, Blanchard has scored a victory for free speech when he sued the school board for silencing him at board meetings and won.
[RELATED: Federal Judge Smacks Down Augusta School Board in Free Speech Fight With “Cornpop” Blanchard…]
His opponent, Pierce, is a lawyer and radical leftist with a history of fundraising for the Mable Wadsworth Center, an institution that provides abortions and gender transition treatments.
She also previously celebrated a student walkout protest and has staunchly opposed any school budget cuts, despite rising property taxes.
The students lost as well…