Dem school board chair drops Senate bid after radical empathy backlash over illegal immigrant superintendent

Des Moines Public School Board (DMPS) Chair Jackie Norris ended her bid for Iowa’s open US Senate seat Thursday after facing backlash for urging “radical empathy” toward former superintendent and illegal immigrant Ian Andre Roberts.Norris, a Democrat who previously served as first lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, said the “superintendent crisis” demanded her full attention as board chair and put her “in the crosshairs of vicious and coordinated attacks.”“Those realities took time and oxygen away from the work I set out to do: stand up for our kids and families — and the backbone of our communities, their educators and caregivers,” Norris wrote in a statement.Roberts, the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district, has an extensive criminal history and was living and working in the US illegally.He submitted his resignation Sept.30 after his Sept.

26 arrest by immigration authorities, which involved a brief car chase.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said agents allegedly found a gun, hunting knife and $3,000 in cash in his car.Federal officials say Roberts, who illegally returned to the US from Guyana in 1999 after a theft and drug arrest, was convicted in 2012 of reckless driving, unsafe operation and speeding in Maryland.In 2020, he was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree weapon charges.Despite overstaying visas on multiple occasions and being ordered deported in 2004 and 2024, he holds active voter status and is a registered Democrat in Maryland.Roberts was charged with being an illegal alien in possession of firearms, according to authorities.The board said when Roberts was hired in July 2023 they knew he did not graduate from Morgan State University as he claimed in his resume.It is unclear if they knew about his illegal immigration status or criminal record.Norris’ opponent, Rep.Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, called for he...