EGUSD Area 2 candidate Kirk Thomson has high-profile endorsements pulled amidst offensive language
Law enforcement associations have dropped Thomson from their endorsements
In just over 24 hours, Elk Grove Unified School District Area 2 Trustee Kirk Thomson has had several endorsements withdrawn after some of his demeaning social media posts were revealed. Thomson, who is challenging incumbent Michael Vargas, reportedly made several comments dismissive of disabled people.
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As we reported this morning, Thomson made the posts on X. A montage of those posts can be seen below.
Among the endorsements withdrawn is EGUSD Trustee Heidi Moore. As the sole conservative on the seven-member board, Moore endorsed fellow conservative Thomson to bolster their voice in the district's governance.
Moore's statement said:
Yesterday I was made aware of comments made by Kirk Thomson, a school board candidate, on a social media account. After becoming aware of the comments, I have decided to rescind my previous endorsement of his candidacy.
In a statement to the Sacramento Bee, Thomson said those comments were from his personal X account. The report said:
In a statement to The Sacramento Bee, Thomson said posts surfacing online were “old posts” from his “personal Twitter account,” made “months and sometimes years” before he considered running for office, and said the language he used was “wrong.”
“Words like that have caused real harm to people with disabilities and their families for a long time. I’m sorry to everyone those words hurt, especially the families in this district who live every day with the reality that language like that makes harder,” Thomson said in the statement.
Perhaps more stinging, Thomson lost the high-value endorsement from the Elk Grove Police Officers Association. In their Facebook post this afternoon, the EGPOA said:
We were recently made aware of statements made by Mr. Kirk Thomson that do not reflect the values or standards of the Elk Grove Police Officers Association. The Elk Grove Police Officers Association has decided to rescind its endorsement of Kirk Thomson for Elk Grove School Board, effective immediately.
Assemblymember Joshua Hoover (R -Rancho Cordova) has reportedly pulled his endorsement as well as several trustees from area school districts. The Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff's Association website page that listed their endorsement of Thomson has been 404ed.
Even before this imbroglio, Mr. Thomson faced long odds in the Area 2 district, which has an overwhelming Democratic registration advantage. With this collapse of support, any hopes Republicans and conservatives had of gaining another voice on the EGUSD Board of Trustees have evaporated.
