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Op-ed

The Conservative Case Against Victor Sims

By Sam RomainChairman, Polk County Republican Executive Committee

Victor Sims advanced to the November 3 runoff. The Florida Democratic Party, national progressive pipelines, union PACs and DEI organizations backing him tell Polk County exactly how he would govern.

Victor Sims wants voters to focus on his biography. Conservative voters should focus on his agenda—and on the political machine working to put him in office.

School Board members oversee a multibillion-dollar public institution, set policy for more than 100,000 students and answer to parents and taxpayers. This election is not an award for overcoming adversity. It is a decision about who gets power over Polk County’s schools.

On that question, Sims has given conservative voters plenty of reasons to say no.

Where the race stands now

On August 18, Polk County voters narrowed the District 3 race to a two-person runoff: incumbent Kate Wallace (45.1%) and Victor Sims (35.8%).

The choice is now set. The Polk County Republican Executive Committee has formally endorsed Kate Wallace for the November 3 general election.

School Board seats are elected countywide—every registered voter in Polk County votes in this race. And on November 3, Victor Sims is on the ballot alongside the very property-tax increase he is asking voters to pass.

The Democratic Party picked its candidate—and then paid for him

Polk County School Board races appear as nonpartisan on the ballot. Victor Sims’s political record is not nonpartisan.

In 2016, Sims was the Democratic nominee for Florida House District 39. In 2020, he filed again as a Democrat for Florida House District 42 before withdrawing.

In 2026, the Florida Democratic Party formally selected Sims for its Take Back Local slate, announcing that candidates would receive funding, campaign strategy, voter data and direct voter-contact support to build lasting Democratic power in local offices.

That was not symbolic. It was an invoice.

Sims’s official campaign finance filings show $3,585.70 directly from the Florida Democratic Party headquarters at 201 South Monroe Street in Tallahassee:

  • Votebuilder (party voter-file & targeting software) — $2,000.00 (in-kind, July 15)
  • Solidarity Tech (organizing platform) — $500.00 (in-kind, July 15)
  • Scale to Win (texting platform) — $85.70 (in-kind, July 16)
  • Cash contribution — $1,000.00 (July 31)

Sims told the Ledger after the primary: “I am not filtering my views through the platform of any political party.”

His own financial reports tell a different story: the state Democratic Party didn't just endorse him—they equipped and funded his campaign.

He answered values questions as a Democrat. He went silent for School Board.

When running as a partisan Democrat in 2016, Sims answered detailed ideological questionnaires without hesitation. His submitted answers to iVoterGuide were clear:

Question

His answer

Sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression should be protected classes

Strongly Agree

Government should define marriage as one man and one woman

Disagree

Planned Parenthood should not receive government funds

Strongly Disagree

People should be able to vote without photo identification

Agree

His own 2016 campaign platform made it a standalone plank: “Increase and Secure funding for Planned Parenthood.”

Fast forward to 2026. Running for School Board in Polk County, Sims received the same organization's questionnaire and skipped roughly 28 out of 30 questions, refusing to answer:

  • Whether biological males should participate in girls' sports or enter women's locker rooms;
  • Whether gender dysphoria should be treated rather than affirmed in children;
  • Marriage;
  • Whether Planned Parenthood should provide instruction or services in public schools;
  • Parental rights over their children's healthcare and education;
  • Sexual orientation and gender identity in sex education.

He answered only two uncontroversial questions on discipline and founding documents, leaving the entire values section blank.

When running in a Democratic primary, he campaigned on funding Planned Parenthood. When asked by Polk County parents whether Planned Parenthood belongs in their children's schools, he went silent.

He “embraces almost all of DEI”

At the July 16 candidate forum, Sims was asked directly about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in public schools. He didn't hedge:

“I actually embrace almost all of DEI, and I’m going to say that confidently.”

Watch Sims give the full answer here.

Sims embraces DEI as an operating system for education. Conservatives believe schools should judge students as individuals, uphold high academic standards, and reward merit—not divide children into ideological categories.

The coalition is the ideology

Look at the political machine funding and organizing Victor Sims’s campaign:

  • Florida Democratic Party: Provided $3,585.70 in cash and proprietary voter data software.
  • Equality Florida Action PAC: The statewide LGBTQ political advocacy organization mobilizing resources to advance its activist agenda in local school boards.
  • SPLC Action Fund: Formally endorsed Sims as part of its statewide slate to advance its political agenda.
  • Polk Education Association PAC & Florida Education Association: The union political operations that screened and endorsed Sims.
  • Run for Something: A national progressive pipeline that endorsed Sims and funded his campaign.
  • Florida Pipeline Project ($1,000): A progressive PAC dedicated to “investing in progressive candidates, campaigns and infrastructure.”
  • Sam Martin Consulting ($1,812.75): An out-of-state progressive consulting firm in Olympia, Washington, hired by Sims for media strategy.
  • The Collective PAC ($500), West Central Florida Labor Council PAC ($250), GoodParty.org ($994.70 in-kind).
  • The School Board Project: A national activist network whose published core values include gender and sexuality expression in schools, school-based reproductive care, and opposition to school choice.

The groups funding and endorsing Victor Sims know exactly what they are buying.

National progressives see Polk County as an entry point

In January 2026, Run for Something published its strategic plan. It names Florida as a primary target for “Battle Up Long Term,” explaining how electing local candidates builds political infrastructure:

“Our model identifies and trains local leaders who will... already have receipts in their communities: school board members, city councilors, county commissioners, state legislators…”

They openly explain that local school board seats provide “reverse coattails” to flip legislative and congressional districts ahead of post-2030 redistricting, backed by an $8.2 million national budget.

Victor Sims isn't just a local candidate—he is a stepping stone in a national effort to flip Florida school boards.

What he told the union vs. what he told the public on school choice

In April 2026, screening behind closed doors with the Polk Education Association union PAC, Sims was asked to name the biggest problem facing public schools. He targeted school choice:

“I think vouchers aren’t helping what public education is meant to do.”

Watch his union screening answer.

Months later, speaking to a general audience, Sims admitted that school choice was an issue on which he had changed his mind after discovering that a foster child in his care wasn't getting required IEP services in a traditional classroom.

That personal experience is the core argument for school choice: when a system fails a child, parents must have the freedom and the funding to find an alternative that works.

Yet the union backing Sims—the Florida Education Association—is currently suing in court to strike down Florida's scholarship and charter school programs. If successful, that lawsuit would strip school choice options from more than 20,000 charter school students and 10,000 private scholarship students in Polk County alone.

Sims cannot stand with the union trying to dismantle school choice while claiming to support parents.

He supports the 1-mill property tax increase—and called it “only” $250

On the same November 3 ballot, Polk County voters are being asked to approve a 1-mill property tax increase that would extract $76 million to $82 million every year from local taxpayers.

When asked by the union PAC, Sims enthusiastically backed the tax increase:

“I’m voting in support of it. That’s my personal vote. … And it only costs us $250 a year.”

Watch the clip.

With skyrocketing property insurance, grocery prices, and utility bills, there is no such thing as “only” $250. The average Polk homeowner will pay closer to $260 a year.

Before demanding tens of millions in new taxes, the School Board must eliminate waste. The district recently overspent by roughly $30 million on health insurance claims in a single year—reforming that internal waste alone could fund substantial employee raises without raising property taxes on working families.

Victor Sims's first instinct wasn't fiscal discipline. It was to dismiss the cost to taxpayers.

Administrative competence and judgment

Sims asks voters to trust his leadership based on his nonprofit experience. The official state records tell a different story.

According to the Florida Division of Corporations, Guiding Hope Inc. (Document N21000006836), founded and led by Sims, was administratively dissolved on September 22, 2023 after failing to file its required annual reports.

Yet his official campaign filing with the Polk County Supervisor of Elections still lists victor.sims@guidinghope.org as his contact address—using the domain of an entity dissolved three years ago.

Stewardship matters. If a candidate cannot maintain basic corporate filings for a small nonprofit, he should not be trusted with a school district budget exceeding $2 billion.

Judgment also shows in who a candidate embraces. On July 17, Sims’s campaign publicly celebrated an endorsement from Alethea Pugh, the Democratic House District 48 nominee who previously pleaded guilty to grand theft for stealing over $11,000 from the Haines City High School athletic booster club while serving as its president.

Reject the progressive agenda on November 3

Victor Sims is a partisan Democratic candidate recruited, funded, and equipped by the Florida Democratic Party, radical left PACs, and union bosses.

He embraces DEI, refused to answer whether boys should be in girls' sports, dismissed an $80 million annual tax increase as “only” $250, and aligns with organizations actively suing to eliminate school choice in Florida.

Polk County schools need higher standards, parental rights, and fiscal accountability—not progressive ideology.

District 3 is elected countywide. Every voter in Polk County can vote in this race.

On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, vote for academic excellence, parental rights, and fiscal discipline:

Vote Kate Wallace for Polk County School Board, District 3.

Sources

Paid political advertisement paid for by the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, 6039 Cypress Gardens Blvd; Box 108, Winter Haven, FL 33884. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Portrait of Sam Romain

About the author

Sam Romain

Chairman, Polk County Republican Executive Committee

Sam Romain is Chairman of the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, the county party organization representing registered Republicans across Polk County's precincts. He writes here on behalf of the committee on elections, county governance and the issues facing Polk County voters.

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