The Waterford School Board Race

Claim

The MEA, which also endorsed radicals Abdul El-Sayed (who campaigned with a progressive influencer who said America deserved 9/11), Eli Savit (who reduced attempted murder down to probation), and socialist William Lawrence (who pled guilty to a felony and was a member of the Democrat Socialists of America), endorsed Michael Ristich and Kristen Wagner for Waterford School Board in the November 3rd, 2026 election.

Fact Check

“U.S. Senator — Abdul El-Sayed” · “Attorney General — Eli Savit” · “District 7 – William Lawrence” · “Waterford School Board – Michael Ristich & Kristen Wagner” Michigan Education Association, published Sept. 23, 2026; updated Oct. 1, 2026

Background Sources

• Abdul El-Sayed: FactCheck.org, Aug. 2026 (documents El-Sayed's April 7 remark, “I'm not here to disavow people's views,” about Hasan Piker, a streamer who campaigned with him and said “America deserved 9/11”); WSET
• Eli Savit: The Midwesterner, May 2026 (Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard: investigators sought assault with intent to murder; the Washtenaw case ended in two years’ probation)
• William Lawrence: WWMT (guilty plea to felony resisting and obstructing police, 2013 Line 5 protest); Wikipedia (Democratic Socialists of America member until July 2026)

Claim

Decisions made by Democrat school board members have had dire consequences for students in the past. Previously, a Democrat school board member voted to hire a man who had been fired from the same high school after police investigated him over inappropriate messages to a student-athlete. About six months later, he was arrested for molesting a 15-year-old student.

Fact Check

On Oct. 11, 2022, Democrat Randy Villegas, voted to approve hiring Dejaun Jones as a campus supervisor at a high school. The district had fired Jones as girls’ track coach at that school in 2013 after police investigated him for inappropriate text messages to a student-athlete. About six months after the vote, he was arrested for molesting a 15-year-old student; he pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts and was sentenced to five years in prison. The Daily Wire, citing the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office

Claim

Only the Waterford Education Association, not the MEA, endorsed Ristich and Wagner.

Fact Check

Ristich and Wagner appear by name on the MEA's own statewide list of 2026 candidate recommendations: “Waterford School Board – Michael Ristich & Kristen Wagner.” Michigan Education Association, published Sept. 23, 2026; updated Oct. 1, 2026

Claim

School board members have immense influence over what our children are taught, their safety and security while at school, and parental rights.

Fact Check

“Under Michigan law, a board of education has the ultimate responsibility for school district operations,” including “setting the curricula and courses taught in the schools” and to “provide for the safety and welfare of students.” Michigan Association of School Boards