Des Moines school board chair Jackie Norris announced this morning she is dropping out of the U.S. Senate race, citing the need to focus fully on the fallout from the Ian Roberts controversy.
In her statement, Norris casts herself as a victim, claiming that she and the broader community have been “in the crosshairs of vicious and coordinated attacks.”
While there has been some baseless speculation about her motivations for supporting Roberts, I’ve seen nothing that fairly qualifies as “vicious attacks.” And there’s certainly no evidence of any coordinated effort among her critics. Most of what she’s faced has been legitimate criticism, and her characterization of the public’s response is an attempt to deflect accountability