National Rhetoric or Local Stakes? Inside the Troy School Board Race

Five names are on the Nov. 3 ballot for two six-year seats on the Troy School Board: Vital Anne, Walt Cook, Mary Gunn, Beau Taylor and Michele Maleszyk, who has suspended her campaign. Party labels don't appear on the ballot, but messaging on national political issues has been prevalent.

The Oakland County Republican Party is campaigning against Cook and Taylor. Since August, the party has publicized messages it says Cook wrote joking about Charlie Kirk's death, and a party mail piece says Taylor supported a group tied to a "domestic terrorist organization." The party says its program includes mail, video ads and texts timed to absentee ballots. Cook says he can't verify the messages; Taylor says he has "no clue" what the mail piece refers to.

Unsigned texts tied candidates to Flock cameras. Texts from an unidentified sender on Oct. 12 and 13 linked Cook, and then Anne and Taylor, to support for Flock license plate cameras; the second urged votes for all three. Cook and Taylor had both publicly opposed the cameras. Flock and an OCRP official deny sending the texts, and no one has claimed them.

Here is what each effort says, who is behind it, what the board decides and what is still unknown.

The candidates and who backs them

Party labels don't appear on Michigan school board ballots, but endorsements have sorted much of the field.

The MEA is the state's largest teachers union. Its candidate recommendations are made by local committees of educators.

Taylor's site says his parents are public school educators and MEA leaders. It also says the race was "essentially uncontested" when he entered and has since turned "political."

Maleszyk has suspended her campaign. In the League of Women Voters Oakland Area voter guide, she wrote: "With other candidates in this race now receiving partisan endorsements, I am no longer able to continue my campaign under these circumstances." She confirmed the statement to Troy Thrive and said she is no longer campaigning because her employer prohibits her from taking part in a race in which any candidate has a partisan endorsement. Her name remains on the ballot.

The Oakland County GOP's campaign against Cook and Taylor

The Oakland County Republican Party (OCRP) has publicly described its own effort as "presidential-level" targeting in a school board race. Its materials carry the party's paid-for-by line.

It started with Cook. On Aug. 21, OCRP posted a graphic headlined "Walter Cook celebrated Charlie Kirk's assassination," along with what it called leaked text messages in which Cook allegedly joked about Kirk's death. Party chair Vance Patrick called the remarks "sick, depraved and completely disqualifying" and demanded Cook withdraw, Oakland Confidential reported.

It also filed complaints. On Aug. 31, OCRP Chair Vance Patrick asked the state Bureau of Elections to investigate Taylor's yard signs and website for lacking the legally required "paid for by" line, according to the complaint packet. The packet holds near-identical complaints against other candidates. Taylor's site now carries a paid-for-by line. The anonymous Flock texts carried none.

OCRP's Sept. 25 video post quotes the texts it attributes to Cook: "As the life ran out of his eyes, in his last moments… he leaned over to the left." It also quotes him joking that Steve Bannon might "drop to the right when his time comes." The post calls the remarks "deranged" and urges voters to reject Cook.

Asked whether he wrote the messages, Cook told Troy Thrive he "cannot verify their authenticity, though I understand they are alleged to have originated in a private WhatsApp group." He said he prefers to keep the campaign "centered on local student success and district governance rather than national political figures."

Patrick declined to say how the party obtained the messages, saying only that OCRP was "not the original releasing entity."

Then it laid out the program. A Sept. 29 OCRP post and video described a campaign "to keep Walt Cook and Beau Taylor off the Troy School Board." The video, which uses on-screen text and music, says the party:

• Scored Troy School District voters on 29 predictive models, a universe it puts at 52,774
• Split them into groups to persuade and to inform
• Produced two mail pieces and four video ads
• Times text messages to the day each voter's absentee ballot arrives, then follows up until the ballot is returned

The sample text shown in the video reads: "Your ballot is here. Watch this before you fill it out."

Asked whether those texts carry a paid-for-by line, Patrick said OCRP "complies with all applicable laws and regulations" and that state law "has specific requirements on when and where disclaimers are required."

What the ads say. One mailer, which OCRP posted on Facebook Oct. 1, asks "Boys in girls sports?" over an image of wrestlers and urges a no vote on Taylor and Cook. Its fine print says the ad has "components generated in whole or substantially by artificial/super intelligence." The same mail piece calls Taylor a "radical extremist" who "supported a group tied to a 'domestic terrorist organization.'"

Asked what group that meant, OCRP Chair Vance Patrick told Troy Thrive it "refers to Antifa," which President Trump designated a domestic terrorist organization by executive order in September 2025. U.S. law has no process for designating domestic groups that way, Michigan Public reported. Patrick said the tie to Taylor "is clearly laid out" in the party's online playbook.

Taylor told Troy Thrive he has "no clue" what the terrorism claim refers to. "I worked in counter-terrorism overseas and survived numerous attacks so I really have no idea why they chose this message," he said. On transgender athletes, he said he takes "a common sense approach and won't engage in dialogue that is divisive." He said his campaign is funded by "all my own money and individual contributions," with no party or outside group spending for him that he knows of.

A second mailer calls Cook and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit "too dangerous to be around our kids"; its fine print criticizes Savit's record, not Cook's. It also attacks Cook as "endorsed by an organization that supports a self-identified socialist felon." The video ads repeat the Kirk attack, saying Cook "mocked an assassination" and is "now cashing in on it."

Patrick said the playbook's video shows Cook "used his deranged remarks to raise money for his campaign." Cook said he is "honestly not sure what the OCRP is referring to." Troy Thrive found no fundraising appeal by Cook that references the remarks; his donation page showed his TEA and MEA endorsements in screenshots OCRP took Aug. 21.

OCRP's video says "Troy is just the preview" and lists districts it plans to target next, including Rochester, Oxford, Waterford, Southfield, West Bloomfield, Walled Lake and Huron Valley.

What the party's filing shows. OCRP's pre-election campaign statement, filed with the state Oct. 23, covers Aug. 25 through Oct. 18. It lists $39,032 in spending across 10 expenditures. None names Troy, school boards, Cook or Taylor, and none is described as mail, video or digital advertising. The largest is $20,460 to H2H Strategies, of Onondaga, for "voter guide printing" on Oct. 14. The rest is office administration, a convention deposit, payment processing fees, and two payments to i360, the party's voter-data vendor: $3,900 for a database and $1,177 for texts. The filing ties the texts to opposing the Oakland Schools regional enhancement millage, which was on the Aug. 4 ballot.

The Troy mailer says it was "paid for with regulated funds by the Oakland County Republican Party." Asked what the H2H payment covered, who paid for the Troy mail, video and texts, and how much the party has spent in Troy, Patrick answered each with: "Our online playbook is the extent of our public comment on voter contact strategy." Asked why no Troy costs appear in the filing, he said the Oct. 23 statement "is indicative of all invoices OCRP had received to date." Costs paid later would appear in the party's post-election report, due in December.

The anonymous Flock texts

A second, unsigned text campaign linked school board candidates to support for Flock Safety license plate cameras. Cook and Taylor had both publicly opposed the cameras.

One version sent in Plymouth-Canton read in part, "Flock is a great public safety partner. Can we count on you to support the flock..." and named the candidates, WXYZ reported. The station reported similar texts in Troy, West Bloomfield, Plymouth-Canton, Novi, Royal Oak, Rochester and Ann Arbor.

In Troy, the texts came in two parts. The first was framed as a survey: "Do you agree with this statement: I would be more likely to support Walt Cook if he supported Flock cameras for safety. Reply STOP to opt out." The second read: "Flock is a great public safety partner. Can we count on you to support the flock by voting for Walt Cook, Vital Anne & Beau Taylor? Stop=End"

Cook said the first message went out Oct. 12 and the second Oct. 13. The second named every candidate still campaigning except Mary Gunn. The two messages used different opt-out wording. A screenshot shows the first arriving by SMS from +1 (770) 676-1181, a number in a prefix listed for Stone Mountain, Georgia. A local Facebook page, Troy WatchDogs, posted the messages at 11:11 p.m. on Oct. 13. Neither message identifies who sent or paid for it.

The texts named Cook, who had publicly opposed Flock weeks earlier. In a Sept. 18 post on his campaign Facebook page, after talking with voters at Troy Family Daze, he wrote, "I am not convinced the adequate safeguards are in place to protect our data and safeguard against misuse." He told the Detroit Free Press he learned of the texts from friends and supporters; he told Troy Thrive he first learned of them Monday, Oct. 12, when the first one went out. Cook described his position to Troy Thrive as safeguarding civil liberties and privacy, adding that he opposes the cameras "being used in our schools." Troy's city government, not its school district, holds the city's Flock contract.

Taylor, also named in the texts, had opposed Flock even earlier. Official minutes of the Sept. 14 Troy City Council meeting list him under public comment as speaking "in opposition to Flock cameras." On the meeting video, Taylor, who runs Detroit's Public Lighting Authority, said he wants "the place I live to be as transparent as the place I work." He called Flock "a solution looking for a problem."

What's known about the sender:

• Flock denies involvement. "Flock is in no way affiliated with these text messages," the company told WXYZ.
• The numbers trace to Atlanta-area codes. WXYZ called them and the calls couldn't be completed.
• Many targets share an MEA recommendation, WXYZ found. MEA spokesperson Thomas Morgan called the texts disinformation and asked, "Who is paying for this? Who stands to benefit?"
• The texts carry no paid-for-by line. Michigan law requires political advertising to identify who paid for it, WXYZ noted. WXYZ asked the attorney general's office whether it is investigating and had no answer by publication.

Cook told the Free Press he suspects the Oakland County Republican Party. OCRP finance chair Brian Szmytke denied it: "We don't touch Flock. Flock is a very divisive issue. So it's not us." He said the party sends texts only from Michigan area codes and has no formal position on Flock because its members are split.

Patrick told Troy Thrive the party "has not received any communication from any entity as to who bears responsibility" for the texts. He said OCRP's texting platform "only has access to area codes in Michigan" and that the party has "no way of knowing what other phone numbers vendors or outside committees might have access to."

Not everyone online blames OCRP. On Oct. 14, the Troy Hall Monitor Facebook page wrote that the sender "has not been publicly established and speculation is not proof." It asked whether someone was "trying to frame Mary Gunn or smear the Oakland County Republican Party." The page also claimed Taylor was the only candidate who had raised Flock in the race. Cook's Sept. 18 post shows he had addressed it too.

In an Oct. 15 statement, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said "conservative candidates" had "turned to outright lies funded by dark money." The statement named no candidates and offered no evidence of who sent the texts. No evidence published so far identifies the sender, and no one has claimed them.

The same tactics across Oakland County

Troy isn't the only district seeing these tactics.

Waterford. The Oakland County Republican Party texted voters a video calling the two MEA-recommended candidates, Michael Ristich and Kristen Wagner, "birds of a feather" with U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and congressional candidate William Lawrence, the Oakland County Journal reported. The MEA recommends all four.

West Bloomfield and beyond. In West Bloomfield, the Free Press reported, the text read: "Flock is a great public safety partner. Can we count on you to support the flock by voting for Kenneth Ferguson and Stacy Brickman." The texts presented the named candidates as pro-Flock. In Troy, they named both MEA-backed candidates plus Taylor. Candidates in five more districts got similar texts, including two outside Oakland County: Plymouth-Canton in Wayne County and Ann Arbor in Washtenaw.

The two efforts overlap but don't match. OCRP's announced target list includes Rochester, Waterford and West Bloomfield. The Flock texts hit Rochester and West Bloomfield too, but also Plymouth-Canton, Novi, Royal Oak and Ann Arbor, which don't appear in the list shown in OCRP's video.

What the Democratic side is doing

Publicly, Democratic-aligned activity in the Troy race consists of endorsements, not an ad campaign.

• The MEA's recommendations. The teachers union recommends Anne and Cook in Troy, and MEA-recommended candidates in other districts. OCRP's attacks are built on that slate. Cook's campaign site also shows endorsement logos for TEA and DMO. Democratic Municipal Officials lists Cook among its 2026 endorsements on Blue Voter Guide.
• No county party endorsement. The Oakland County Democratic Party's 2026 endorsement list includes judicial, legislative and college board candidates, but no school board candidates. No public OCDP mail, video or text program in the Troy race has surfaced.
• The state party's response. Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel's public role has been to condemn the Flock texts as "outright lies funded by dark money" from "conservative candidates."

Nearby, the Rochester Area Democratic Club posted an endorsement guide in late September covering Rochester school board seats. It noted that a straight-party vote doesn't cover school board races.

What the board actually decides

The seven-member board oversees a district of about 12,400 students in 21 schools, per Ballotpedia. Its core jobs are hiring and evaluating the superintendent, approving the budget, adopting curriculum and policy, and approving employee contracts.

What's outside its control:

• Flock cameras. The license plate reader contract belongs to the City of Troy, not the school district.
• Transgender athletes. Eligibility for high school sports runs through a statewide waiver process under the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Northern Express reported. In December 2025, the MHSAA said it had granted one waiver for the 2025-26 fall season, OutKick reported. Reporting on the process describes no role for local school boards.
• Socialism and statewide candidates. None of these comes before a school board.

What has divided Troy voters is local. In May 2023, the board voted 6-1 to move honors math from sixth grade to eighth. A recall effort against four members followed but never reached the ballot, per Ballotpedia. The candidates' own platforms focus on issues such as honors classes, academic results and district finances.

Timeline

The OCRP campaign ran in public for nearly two months before the anonymous texts surfaced.

What's still unanswered

• Who sent the Flock texts, and who paid? No one has claimed them, and OCRP denies sending them.
• Who paid for OCRP's Troy program? Its filing through Oct. 18 itemizes no Troy spending, and the party declined to say.
• What group does OCRP say Taylor is tied to? OCRP says antifa but points only to its online playbook for the connection.
• What did Cook write, and where? Cook says he can't verify the remarks and that they allegedly came from a private WhatsApp group.

How to vote

Early voting runs daily through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Thursday, Oct. 29, when hours are noon to 8 p.m., according to the city clerk. Troy's site is the Troy Community Center, 3179 Livernois, Rooms 304 and 305. Troy voters can also use the Oakland County Early Voting Center at Waterford Oaks, 2800 Watkins Lake Road, on the same schedule.

On Election Day, Nov. 3, polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can choose up to two school board candidates; all five names appear on the ballot.

Sources: WXYZ · Detroit Free Press · Oakland County Journal · Oakland Confidential · MEA recommendations · OCRP slate · Beau Taylor campaign site · VOTE411 · Ballotpedia: Troy School District · Ballotpedia: 2023 recall · Northern Express · City of Troy election notice · OCRP Facebook posts of Aug. 21, Sept. 25, Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, plus the Sept. 29 program video

More sources: MDP Oct. 15 statement · Michigan Public on the antifa order · OCRP Aug. 31 complaint packet · Oakland County candidate list · Cook endorsements page · Blue Voter Guide: DMO · OCDP endorsements · OutKick on MHSAA waivers · Troy city clerk: early voting · OCRP pre-election campaign statement (MiTN, committee 002147, filed Oct. 23) · Troy City Council minutes and video, Sept. 14 · LWV Oakland Area voter guide · Troy WatchDogs and Troy Hall Monitor Facebook posts, Oct. 13-14 · Emailed responses from Cook and Taylor (Oct. 25), Maleszyk and OCRP Chair Vance Patrick (Oct. 27)