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In Schools Race, Democrat Garcia Gets A Bump From Moderate Republicans

Democrat David Garcia is running for state superintendent of education. His campaign saw a significant boost in contributions following Tuesday’s primary election.

Julie Erfle with the Garcia campaign said one reason for the bump is his opponent. Republican Diane Douglas calls herself a conservative candidate. Erfle said some moderate Republicans may prefer Garcia.

"I think that there will be a lot of Republicans who are going to jump on board, and they’re going to do so because, for them, they want somebody who is fully qualified to take over this office," Erfle said. "We have just had too much, unfortunately, people in charge of the state superintendent’s office, who have put ideology above solutions."

Erfle said the increase in contributions, plus a high profile endorsement by former GOP superintendent Jaime Molera, has put Garcia’s campaign in a good position.

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KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.