'You're a hypocrite': Dem lawmaker slams fellow party members for 'lying about their address' to send own children to better schools while rejecting school choice bill

A Georgia Democratic General Assembly member slammed members of her party recently, accusing them of "lying about their address" to send their own children to better schools while simultaneously rejecting a school choice bill.

Representative Mesha Mainor angered her fellow Democrats when she stood with Republicans in support of Georgia Senate Bill 233, which would have provided $6,500 vouchers to parents with students performing in the bottom 25% in the state. The vouchers could have been used to pay for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses.

SB 233 received support from Republican Governor Brian Kemp but was voted down last month by 16 House Republicans. However, the bill could be voted on again at a later time.

The legislation's critics claimed it would take much-needed funding away from the public school systems in poorer neighborhoods. As part of the program, a public school's funding would decrease with every student that opted to leave and use their voucher at a private institution.

Mainor, a supporter of "parent choice," was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the legislation.

"Why is no one fighting for young Black minds? Why isn't that one of the things that we're fighting for?" Mainor told Fox News Digital. "I actually say you're a hypocrite. That's what I tell them directly. You are being a hypocrite. There are state lawmakers right now where their children are in schools that they're not even zoned for … They're lying about their address, state lawmakers, but they won't vote for this bill."

Mainor accused some members of her party of failing to prioritize the educational needs of impoverished black children.

"I support parent choice because some parents have children in schools where their needs are not being met," she continued. "In my district in particular, we have schools with 3% reading proficiency, 3% have obtained math proficiency by the eighth grade. And so to say that this is just how it is and that the kid needs to just suffer these consequences, I don't agree with that. And I don't think that all parents agree with that either."

Mainor's fellow Democrats came after her after she failed to vote along party lines.

Democratic state Senator Josh McLaurin offered $1,000 to anyone willing to run against Mainor. McLaurin posted a photograph of a check on his Twitter account with the caption, "All I need is a name."

Democratic State Representative Michelle Au tweeted a link to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article titled "The Jolt: Democrats threaten primary against centrist Atlanta lawmaker." In the post's caption, Au explained that Mainor was not receiving pushback from colleagues for "voting differently" or "having different opinions."

"This is about floridly whipping votes in favor of a harmful bill we took a CAUCUS POSITION AGAINST," Au wrote. "And losing."

Mainor stated that there is a "collective effort" by her Democratic colleagues to get her out of office. She called the pushback "ludicrous."

"I think my fellow Democrats – and not all of them, I hate to say that because it's not all of them – some of my colleagues will march in the streets for abortion rights. I'm pro-choice. They were crying on the floor for transgender rights. They were very outspoken about antisemitism. My problem is, why is no one fighting for young Black minds? … And so to say that all these other issues are important, but a child living in poverty that's of color is at the bottom of your totem pole of priorities, that's a problem with the value system if you ask me," she added.

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