The 30-something-year-old comedian-turned-viral-internet-sensation, you see, had set his sights on an upcoming local election. Stein filmed himself as he picked up the application to run as a candidate for Place 7 on the Highland Park ISD Board of Trustees.
“Are you nervous?” he asked the employee after they had stepped into an office.
“Um, no. Not at all,” the woman replied.
“You guys should be,” Stein shot back.
Video of the exchange, posted last week to Stein’s YouTube channel — where he enjoys some 309,000 subscribers — has already racked up more than 82,000 views. He also shared it on Twitter (409,700 followers) and Instagram (226,000 followers), but apparently not on Facebook (12,000 followers).
Stein again addressed his virtual audience as he exited the office, paperwork in hand.
“I’m going to take no mercy, no prisoners,” he said, looking into the camera. “Highland Park Independent School District, when Prime Time 99 wins, the whole game is going to change.”
To hear Stein tell it, he’s running for the school board to fix grave issues. Critics, though, are far more skeptical of his true intentions.
For several months, Stein has steadily built up a robust online presence. He’s infamous for appearing at city council meetings, both in person in North Texas and virtually in other states, to comment on hot-button topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccines to abortion rights.
Detractors have slammed him as bigoted and transphobic, along with a number of other less-than-favorable descriptors. Supporters have lauded him as a renegade reformer cleverly working to expose the lunacy of the left.
Stein’s upcoming election is emblematic of a broader GOP push to pack local school boards with conservatives. Steve Bannon, a right-wing podcaster who once served as an adviser to former President Donald Trump, has previously promoted such races as “the path to save the nation.”
Texas Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have railed against what they view as liberal policies in public schools. Critical race theory, a college-level academic framework, was effectively outlawed from class discussions in 2021 — despite districts' insistence that it wasn’t being taught in the first place. And amid the current state legislative session, some politicians are pushing for a ban on lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Stein isn’t afraid to broadcast his own controversial take on gender issues. He once appeared at a Plano City Council meeting claiming to be a transgender swimmer. He also recently protested against a drag queen story hour at a New York City public library.
The comedian is fast becoming a fan favorite on the right. He’s a contributor for Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV. He’s chatted with ultraconservative Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on her streaming broadcast “MTG Live.” He’s been featured on Texas conspiracy king Alex Jones’ InfoWars website, gotten a nod from podcast giant Joe Rogan and has been interviewed by Fox News hero Tucker Carlson.
Stein made international headlines last summer, with The Independent reporting he “sexually harassed” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat. “AOC, my favorite big booty Latina,” he said while filming the lawmaker on her way to work at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
To learn their thoughts on Stein’s race, the Observer reached out to outgoing district Superintendent Tom Trigg and the current trustees. We also tried contacting Pete Flowers, another Place 7 contender who works in commercial real estate, but didn't hear back.
A spokesperson for Highland Park ISD told us that the district “welcome[s] our community’s participation” and encouraged interested parties to apply.
Responding to the Observer’s emailed interview request, Stein vowed to crack down on the “sexualization” of students, should he prevail.
“I’m running in the school district race to stop the sexualization of the children in our district…Once I win my race I will bring the district back to a level of prominence that highland park [sic] once had when I was graduating from there in the early 2000’s,” he wrote.
Stein also attached a PowerPoint presentation containing what he called “evidence of the deviant things happening at HPISD” that outlined his concerns about certain faculty and leadership. He didn’t respond before publication time to a subsequent email with several follow-up questions, including whether he has children in the district.
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Tania Noelle Boughton’s two boys — one who graduated in May and another who's a sophomore — thrived during their time attending Highland Park ISD schools, and like many parents, she takes their education seriously. She’d heard of Stein before and classified his candidacy as “self-serving” and “disappointing.”
She also cited his brief stint on a now-defunct reality show called The Glass House around a decade ago.
“He’s doing everything he can to remain what he considers to be relevant, and it's at the expense of our children,” Boughton said. “And what's his true interest?”
Stein is somewhat of a fixture at the district’s school board meetings, where he often makes a “spectacle” of himself, Boughton recalled. She said considering the pandemic-induced trauma that many students have endured, they “deserve somebody who's got a vested interest in their educational and emotional growth.”
Boughton worries that the comedian’s candidacy could scare away other contenders who fear becoming a troll target.
“We could be losing out on somebody that we really need, because he wants to take selfies all day and video himself and behave this way,” she said. “And how is he going to serve in that position? More chaos? No parent wants that.”
James Whitfield was Colleyville Heritage High School's first Black principal before getting pushed out amid allegations that he was indoctrinating kids with critical race theory. He said that until fairly recently, “you didn't hear about partisan politics inside school districts.” Things have changed.
The public education advocate said he was able to serve with great school board members before he agreed, in late 2021, to resign.
“Being one of those seven members of a school board is a really high honor to be bestowed upon somebody in their community,” Whitfield said. “So, they've got to be trustworthy. They've got to operate in integrity. They have to be somebody that has high character. They understand the nuances that are going on in public education."
In Whitfield's experience, a typical school board member might be a former or current educator, or someone with children or grandchildren enrolled in the school system. Members are there to support teachers and students, and they have the power to create policy and to hire (and fire) the superintendent.“If I saw him face to face, I would personally ask him to withdraw." – Tania Noelle Boughton, Highland Park ISD parent
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The Dallas Morning News reported last October that the Lone Star State had more than 40 superintendent vacancies, and that many had endured attacks from conservatives. The month before, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD then-Superintendent Robin Ryan announced his retirement.
Whitfield noted an influx of dark money pouring into local school board races. Patriot Mobile, which bills itself as a conservative Christian cell phone company, helped bankroll the election of nearly a dozen new school board members in North Texas, per Axios.
Stein, however, has said that he won't accept campaign contributions and that his bid will be self-financed.
The way Whitfield tells it, voters should be leery of fear-mongering candidates, some of whom may be advancing a “Christian nationalist extremist agenda.” He added that it’s important not to dismiss the “nonsense” surrounding such races: “Public schools are under attack, and if we allow that to continue to fester, ultimately, the educational experience of our kids is at risk.”
To be sure, Stein’s announcement video has attracted heaps of praise online, with fans proclaiming that they would vote for him in whatever office he pursues. But Boughton hopes that Stein will realize that this race is more crucial than clicks on YouTube.
“If I saw him face to face, I would personally ask him to withdraw,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, this is a leadership position for a service-oriented candidate who's willing to serve, and someone who has our children's best interests at heart. And in my humble opinion, that's not Alex Stein.”
Highland Park ISD’s Board of Trustees election will be held on Saturday, May 6.
