With under a week to go until Republican voters head to the polls to select their preferred nominee for Alabama’s open fifth congressional district seat, Madison County Commission chairman Dale Strong is going on the offensive against GOP primary rival Casey Wardynski.
Strong this week released a TV ad slamming the former Huntsville City Schools superintendent over his past defense of the Obama-era Common Core public education standards.
The 30-second spot also hits Wardynski over an anti-bias training program that was implemented in the school district, which was criticized by parents who likened the program to a form of Critical Race Theory.
“Our kids are our future — liberal Casey Wardynski failed them,” says the ad narrator. “As school superintendent, Wardynski defended Obama’s woke curriculum and opposed school choice. And while he now claims to oppose Critical Race Theory, Wardynski deployed a radical re-education program at Huntsville City Schools teaching white privilege and other CRT lies. Flunk Casey Wardynski.”
The ad concludes, “Choose Dale Strong, the conservative leader committed to keeping liberal indoctrination out of our classrooms. Trump conservative Dale Strong for Congress.”
Watch:
In a statement provided to Yellowhammer News, Strong campaign manager Colin Sudduth took aim at Wardynski over the former superintendent’s record.
“Casey Wardynski and his outside groups have spent over $500,000 attacking Dale Strong and lying about his own record,” stated Sudduth. “It’s time he faced the tough questions about why he fought to keep Common Core in Alabama. We also need to know why he was the only Superintendent in Alabama to institute a diversity education program that was rejected by Mountain Brook Schools for teaching CRT.”
In response to the Strong campaign’s assertions, Wardynski campaign manager Chad Niblett defended the candidate’s record and proclaimed that he had combatted “federal intrusion” during his tenure as head of the Huntsville City School District.
“Career politician Dale Strong knows that nobody has done more to fight federal intrusion in our schools than Casey Wardynski,” said Niblett. “Noticeably missing from BLM ally Dale Strong’s misleading ad is anything about how students actually performed under Superintendent Wardynski. That speaks volumes on Woke Dale Strong’s priorities.”
He continued, “Under Casey Wardynski’s leadership, graduation rates soared from 66% to 88%, Huntsville went from having zero Blue Ribbon Schools to having nine, scholarships went from $31 million to $55 million, and HCS became number one in the nation for cyber security education. Dr. Wardynski led this historic progress and fought Obama’s DOJ and DOE on their transgender agenda, all while Dale stayed quiet. It’s clear that when Dale talks about schools, kids are the last thing on his mind.”
According to Niblett, residents of the Tennessee Valley congressional district are “ready for a conservative fighter” to represent them in Congress.
“Casey Wardynski is the only America First conservative in this race who received President Trump’s special trust and confidence, and as Dale just said Friday nobody spends money against you unless you’re leading the race,” he added. “Residents of AL-5 are ready for a conservative fighter like Col. Wardynski to represent them, not a career politician like Dale Strong who bends to the will of the radical left.”
The primary election will take place May 24, 2022. Should no candidate earn more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held June 21, 2022.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.