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Election Day 2006 spelled the end of a twelve-year Republican control of the House of Representatives and gave the U.S. Senate into Democratic hands. President Bush declared it a “thumpin’” for the GOP on Capitol Hill and shared in the responsibility for the party’s heavy losses. Pro-homeschooling candidates running for the House and Senate met with mixed results.

 

Kyle Fisk, a Republican from Colorado, ran for representative in district eighteen against long-standing Democratic Representative Mike Merrifield. Fisk declared a strong stance on educational issues, calling for more power in the hands of the parents. “Among the many stakeholders involved in a child’s education,” he said on his website, “parents are in the unique position of intimately understanding their kids and the specific, personal challenges they face. When we strip parents of the power to make wise decisions for their kids, especially their preschoolers, we effectively eliminate the most powerful and effective voice for every individual child and that is a travesty that must not be permitted.” Until this spring, Fisk served as the executive administrator of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) under former president Ted Haggard. Fisk’s campaign ended unsuccessfully, with Merrifield holding onto his seat in Congress.

 

Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania ran for re-election against Democrat Robert Casey, Jr. Previous to his first election as senator in 1994, he served two terms as representative in the House for the eighteenth district. “Rick is right on the issues,” Mike Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said in an e-mail alert to Pennsylvania members in late October. “Rick is a friend of homeschool families. He is an advocate of the ideals we hold dear: protecting the unborn, strengthening the family, and reducing the size of government. Should he be re-elected, I have every reason to believe that Rick will continue to be a strong voice for our pro-life, pro-family values in the United States Senate.” Himself a father of six children, whom he and his wife teach at home, Santorum is familiar with the educational challenges faced by parents and teachers. Speaking of his stance on educational issues, Santorum said, “I expect excellence from our public schools – every child deserves a sound educational foundation to help them achieve their goals. For this reason, I strongly supported the No Child Left Behind Act, which provides more flexibility for local communities, increases accountability for schools, and gives parents choices in their children’s education. While Pennsylvania schools have already made large strides as a result of this law, I believe that they can continue to improve.” Casey beat Santorum by a landslide in the past election, taking the seat by an eighteen-percent margin lead over the senator.

 

Republican Peter Roskam ran for the Senate in Illinois against Democrat Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk pilot who served and was injured in Iraq. His political career began in the election of 1992, when he became the representative of Illinois’ sixth district. After re-election in 1994 and 1996, he was defeated in 1998 by Republican Judy Biggert. In 2000, he served as Republican Whip and Floor Leader in the state senate. Then, in 2005, when Henry Hyde declared that he would soon retire from the U.S. Senate, Roskam began to raise support for his campaign. A heated, close competition for the seat ensued between Roskam and Duckworth, which ended with Roskam on top as Senator. He and his wife, Elizabeth, homeschool their four children.

 

Michele Bachmann of the Republican Party ran for the representative of Minnesota’s sixth district against Democrat Patty Wetterling. Bachmann laid out her stance on the issues of educational reform on her campaign’s website. “Providing parents with educational choices, not more red tape with expensive and unmanageable mandates, is one of my guiding principles for educational reform,” she said. “The most important educator of children are parents and guardians. Consequently, the best education system empowers parents with information and allows for greater parental involvement. For that reason, I’m a strong supporter of local control of our schools to ensure the most important decisions are made by parents, classroom teachers, and members of the local community where our children live and attend school.” Bachmann gained 8% of the vote over her main opponent, Wetterling, and became the representative for district six.

 

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