Conservative Church-Backed Murrieta Valley USD Candidate Nick Pardue Is Outlier In IE Culture Wars

MURRIETA, CA — Ballots are still being counted following the Nov. 3 General Election, but if tallies continue trending in the current direction, Murrieta Valley Unified School District candidate Nick Pardue will set a precedent.

Running to hold his MVUSD Trustee Area 1 seat, Pardue was leading challengers by a wide margin Monday afternoon: Real-Time Election Results 2026: Murrieta Valley Unified School District Races

Though vote counting for the Nov. 3 election continues and results are not final, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, Pardue has a healthy lead. He had the backing of Inland Empire Family PAC, which is led by 412 Church Temecula Valley Pastor Tim Thompson.

In 2026, the PAC backed eight school board candidates across the Inland Empire, with only two leading in their races as of Monday morning: Pardue, and Steve Campos in the Perris Union High School District. One of the eight, a Lake Elsinore USD incumbent, ran unopposed.

The three PAC-backed Temecula Valley USD candidates are facing an unusual uphill battle. As of Monday afternoon, all three were losing their bids: Real-Time Election Results 2026: Temecula Valley Unified School District Races

Incumbent board member Dr. Joseph Komrosky (Trustee Area 4) was trailing challenger David Sola by more than 700 votes; challenger Brian Emmert was behind incumbent Emil Roger Barham by nearly 500 votes (Trustee Area 2); and Ronda Bowen was trailing Karen Poznanski by more than 1,000 votes in the Trustee Area 3 race.

Bowen and Poznanski are vying to fill the seat of incumbent Jennifer Wiersma, who announced earlier this year that she would not seek reelection.

Bowen, Emmert, and Komrosky had the backing of Inland Empire Family PAC. Wiersma was also backed by the PAC in 2022 (as was Pardue in the MVUSD).

"Public schools across the nation have become a place of indoctrination into a woke ideology," according to the PAC's "About Us" webpage.

"Conservative school board members who hold to a Judeo-Christian set of principles is this nation’s ticket back to American academic superiority on the world scene," the page reads.

In 2022, the PAC helped elect a conservative majority to the TVUSD board. But the new members immediately began making national headlines for incidents that were both embarrassing and costly — and sparked community outrage.

Amid a chorus of boos and jeers, in 2022 the newly formed TVUSD board voted 3-2 to adopt a resolution banning the teaching of critical race theory in Temecula schools, even though the concept was not being taught on any district campus. Komrosky, Wiersma and another Inland Empire Family PAC-backed board member, Danny Gonzalez, were in the majority. The TVUSD incurred substantial direct and indirect taxpayer expenses tied to passing, implementing, and litigating the ban.

In 2023, the conservative board majority voted multiple times to reject an elementary social studies curriculum because it included historical references to gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The vote triggered a civil rights investigation, a $1.5 million state fine from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and state-backed textbook interventions.

That same year, amid bitter cultural debates and student walkouts, the board voted in a closed-session meeting to fire longtime superintendent Jodi McClay, sparking massive pushback and community protests. The move cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance and vacation pay, and search firm fees.

The board has faced ongoing community backlash and internal turmoil over restricted classroom flags and displays, as well as formal board censures.

In late 2024, amid ongoing public bickering, Wiersma accused fellow Trustee Steven Schwartz of sexual harassment, but an independent 2025 investigation revealed the allegations were unfounded and less than credible.

In September, TVUSD Trustee Dr. Melinda Anderson was captured on security footage placing what appeared to be a small recording device under a shared desk used by fellow board members Barham and Schwartz. Trustee Wiersma appeared to watch Anderson place the device. A Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation is ongoing.

Vote counting for the Nov. 3 election continues. An estimated 344,000 vote-by-mail and 11,000 conditional voter registration ballots remained to be counted, the registrar reported Monday morning.

Cured ballots will be accepted until Nov. 25, and ballots postmarked on or before Election Day also remain to be counted, according to the registrar's office.