Malinowski hits back at Republican attacks on N.J. educational curriculum

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), the target of attacks from Republicans over mentions of sexuality and gender in New Jersey’s statewide school curriculum, authored a Twitter thread today forcefully pushing back on his opponents’ broadsides.

“We all want to protect our children and their education,” Malinowski wrote. “That works best when parents and teachers work together and listen to each other. It doesn’t work when politicians use kids as political pawns to divide us from one another. That has to stop now.”

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The controversy, which has dominated New Jersey’s Republican circles this month, began when the Union County township of Westfield, which is in Malinowski’s district, released sample educational materials that many deemed age-inappropriate for their sexual and gender-related content. State Republicans – including former Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), Malinowski’s most likely opponent this November – quickly raised the alarm, saying that no 2nd grader should be taught about gender identity.

“These standards were outrageous,” Kean said in a Fox News interview. “They would have taught sex education as young as kindergarten [and] gender identity education as young as first grade.”

Gov. Phil Murphy has said he’ll direct his Education Department to clarify what the standards first adopted in June 2020 entail. Murphy and other Democrats have also noted that the Westfield lesson plans, which were never intended for actual instruction in the first place, are not representative of the curriculum overall.

The National Republican Campaign Committee latched onto the issue as well, repeatedly slamming Malinowski – their top target in New Jersey in 2022 – for comments he made last month decrying the focus on “made-up cultural bullshit.” (The comments were made prior to the Westfield lesson plan controversy, and seemingly referred to legislation in Texas and Florida.)

“Tom Malinowski is the latest Democrat who will pay the price for dismissing parents’ concerns about their children’s educations,” NRCC spokeswoman Samantha Bullock said in a statement from March, when the comments were first made public.

But in his Twitter thread today, Malinowski argued that Kean and national Republicans were deliberately inflaming a complex issue that should be spoken about rationally.

“Instead of calming things down as any responsible leader would do, [Kean] chose again to stir up anger, mistrust, and fear in hopes he can ride it to power,” Malinowski wrote. “That is the last thing our divided country needs more of right now.”

Kean, who has created an entire “Parents Voice Coalition” website, is clearly hoping the issue will resonate with voters in the Republican primary and general election. But as evidenced by this year’s quick turnaround from “Critical Race Theory” to gender identity, there’s no guarantee the controversy will remain salient for the next six months.