Antonin Scalia's Daughter Suffers Stinging Election Defeat in Virginia

The daughter of the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia lost her race for the school board in Virginia's Albemarle County by a significant margin.

The race saw Meg Bryce, a mother to four children in private school, battle Allison Spillman for a seat on the Albemarle County School Board.

According to results posted by the state's Department of Elections, Spillman had almost 62 percent of the vote with 30 out of 31 precincts in, while Bryce had garnered about 38 percent.

Spillman, a mother of five public school students, took to Facebook to celebrate her victory.

"Friends, we won! I am thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to serve this community as your at-large School Board member," she wrote. "Thank you to each and every person who stood by my side throughout this campaign. Your support, dedication, and belief in our mission are the driving forces behind this victory. Thank you all!"

Bryce told CBS 19 in Charlottesville that she was proud of the campaign she ran.

"My hope from the beginning was to run a campaign that educated people on our school system," Bryce said. "I think that we've been kind of like flying under the radar, and people still assume that we're the best district in the region, and we're not. And so, I think I've shed light on that."

Newsweek reached out to Bryce's campaign via email for comment.

While school board candidates in Virginia must run as independents, school board elections across the country have increasingly become political battlegrounds.

Though Bryce sought to distance herself from the Republican Party, Spillman's campaign and the local Democratic Party sought to highlight Bryce's links to the GOP and warn voters in the Democratic stronghold that her election would bring book bans and other right-wing policies to the school board.

Bryce previously told CBS 19 that her father's legacy is both "a blessing and a curse" for her campaign.

"I think that it's very easy for people to dismiss me as partisan because of my maiden name," she said.

Some celebrated Bryce's defeat on social media, citing her opposition to the Albermarle County school district's antiracism policy and her criticism of protections for LGBTQ+ students.

Her defeat was "another big victory for trans students in a Virginia school board race," journalist Erin Reed wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"Justice Scalia's daughter, Meg Scalia Bryce, has lost her race for school board in Albemarle's public school district. She favored anti-trans policies, opposed 'CRT.' Bad night for Moms For Liberty in VA," Reed said.

Karl Shave, an associate professor at the University of Virginia, wrote on X: "Absolute wipeout. This will not get much national coverage, but to many of us in Albemarle County, this was the big one. (and the "S" stands for Scalia--yes, that Scalia family)."