Two candidates seeking Mineola board position
Two candidates are seeking the unexpired two-year term on the Mineola School Board during the May 4 election.
Early voting will be held April 22-30. The last day to register to participate in …
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Two candidates seeking Mineola board position
Two candidates are seeking the unexpired two-year term on the Mineola School Board during the May 4 election.
Early voting will be held April 22-30. The last day to register to participate in the election is April 4.
Lina Ortega and Tony Forsyth are seeking the seat that was created by the death of longtime MISD board member John Abbott last year. Todd Morgan was appointed to fill the seat until the May election, and he did not file to run for the remainder of the term.
Two other board positions for full three-year terms are on the ballot and are unopposed. Incumbent Jay McGough and Jeffrey White were the only ones to file for those posts.
Lina Ortega, 27, was born and raised in East Texas and a proud graduate of Mineola ISD. She is the oldest of five siblings and comes from a working class, immigrant family.
Her organizing career began on college campuses where she registered students to vote and had conversations on the importance of upcoming elections.
She has managed a local city campaign, was a student fellow for a senatorial campaign, worked in the federal government, engaged in board development, and presently serves as a co-executive director of Este Poder, a non-profit organization building power in rural East Texas communities of color.
Her career in organizing is led by her passion for a just and equitable future, grounded in community, she said.
Tony Forsyth, 31, graduated from Quitman High School in 2010, enlisted in the United States Air Force and served for five years as an air traffic controller at Hurlburt Field in Florida.
During this time, he completed a bachelors degree in business administration from Southern New Hampshire University. He joined the Texas Air National Guard in 2017 when he moved back to his wife’s hometown in Mineola.
Forsyth’s full-time job is working for the Dallas Fire Department. He married his wife Hope in 2014, and they have an 8-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy.
They are members of First Baptist Church Mineola where they enjoy serving the kids on Wednesday nights and Sundays.
