Michael Allers, Jr. is running for Delegate in the 50th District in an attempt to win the seat back for the Republican Party. As a public school teacher, Allers is branding himself a different type of Republican, a new one who wants to work to return the party back to its roots.

As a teacher, Allers supports working to reopen schools safely, He noted the disparities between counties across the Commonwealth. When he returned to the classroom for three weeks, his school in Loudoun County was equipped with air filters and other measures to protect students and staff from COVID-19. This, however, was not the case for the school his father teaches at in Orange County. 

Aside from the ongoing pandemic, Allers said that the most pressing issue in education right now is access to Pre-K. In fact, he said that if he could pass one bill in his first term if he is elected, it would be a bill to provide universal Pre-K across Virginia. He said that currently the Virginia Lottery is used to fund K-12, but he believes that those funds could be repurposed to provide quality Pre-K for students. “If you look at Georgia and Tennessee, both red states, they repurposed their lottery systems to fully fund Pre-K,” he said. “I think that should absolutely adopt these policies.”

Allers also spoke out against standardized test requirements for Virginia students this year, stating,“If you want to have them take the test to show the discrepancy, then fine, but there are no circumstances under which this should count. It’s not fair to our students.”

Allers has been vocally critical of certain members of his own party, specifically State Senator Amanda Chase and Representative Bob Good, both of whom align themselves with Q-Anon conspiracy theorists and other far-right movements. Chase herself was present in Washington, D.C. the day of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, though she left the city before the insurrectionists engaged in their attack.

His approach to combatting extremism is also part of the reason he believes he can get things done. He said he believes that a lot of what he supports, including universal Pre-K, can gain bipartisan support in the General Assembly, and he is willing to work with members of both parties to get it through.

When asked if he believes that he is a viable candidate in a party that has moved so far to the right, Allers said that he believes he is. “At the end of the day, I’m going to be honest,” he said. “My beef isn’t with the voters who voted for these candidates. It’s with the candidates themselves who spread lies and falsehoods to up the anxieties of those who might be economically disenfranchised to play to their fears.”

He says he does not believe that the party is an institution that should be given up on; he believes that extremists on the right and left are pulling the country and the state of Virginia apart.

When asked why a lot of members of his party seem to be afraid of the term “anti-racist”, Allers said that he believes they tie the term to liberal leaders like Dr. Angela Davis and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, but he added that he does not believe that you have to align with those two individuals in order to be anti-racist. “To me, I don’t agree with everything Dr. Kendi says, but that doesn’t mean the term anti-racist scares me,” he said.

He also added that he thinks the party has moved away from its roots as the party that fought against slavery and introduced the first civil rights bill.

He went on to say that he does not believe supporting police and supporting Black lives are mutually exclusive, adding that he thinks police unions are to blame for protecting cops like Derek Chauvin. He noted the need for criminal justice reform that supports everyone involved and he would support an initiative to ensure that police officers are able to further their education. Currently, a lot of police departments do not require police officers to have a college degree.

On the topic of criminal justice reform, Allers said he does not believe that legalizing marijuana is a good idea because there have not been enough studies done. While he supports decriminalization, he said that he fears legalization would lead to “Big Tobacco just becoming Big Green.”

Allers hosts a podcast on the center-right blogsite, Bearing Drift called the Grand New Podcast. He’s a resident of Manassas, and he has been teaching public school for four years.

If you’re interested in learning more about Allers, you can visit his website at https://www.votemikejr.com/.