Velshi Cheers Defeat for Moms for Liberty, Champions Children's 'Right to Read'

On Thursday's The 11th Hour, MS NOW host Ali Velshi used the show's regular "Night Light" segment to cheer the defeat of conservative school board members in Sarasota who were backed by Moms for Liberty. Velshi accused the right-leaning group of infringing on children's "right to read" and of banning "facts."

Velshi began his commentary by noting those who recently won the Democratic nomination for governor and U.S. Senate in Florida, and then added:

...but something else happened in Florida on Tuesday. Quieter, lower profile. But it's something we've been watching for four years on the "Velshi Banned Book Club." In the modern era, Florida is ground zero for the dimming of maybe the most basic light there is -- a kid's right to read.

A right to read.....what? Liberals always pretend that removing a book from a school library is a "book ban," like any student can't find the book in a public library or a book store or Amazon. The "right to read" is not ended. 

Velshi continued:

Four years ago, a conservative majority took control of the Sarasota County school board. That board banned books quietly through a process called weeding -- no hearing, no explanation required. Shortly after taking control, that conservative majority voted to oust the district superintendent for reasons it never fully explained. This week, the voters of Sarasota ended it.

After noting the new liberal candidates who were elected to the school board, he added: "The voters of Sarasota were not just picking new faces, they were ending four years of exactly the record you just heard."

He then took aim at Moms for Liberty:

Now, this didn't start in Sarasota, and it isn't ending there either. Moms for Liberty, the group behind these local school book bans, was founded in Florida in 2021. Their playbook spread next to Pennsylvania to two school boards outside Philadelphia -- Central Bucks and Pennridge. Republicans ran both boards. Both boards banned books. In 2023, voters put Democrats in every single school board seat that was up for election in both districts, flipping control of both boards. The same playbook spread to Texas to a school board outside Houston called Cypress-Fairbanks. Conservatives ran that board, too, and banned books.

Velshi claimed that conservatives were implementing "fact bans" as he soon related:

Here's the number that outlasts any one election. PEN America found that, of the roughly 3,700 unique book titles banned in the United States public schools last year, 44 percent featured characters or people of color, 29 percent were nonfiction. That's more than double the year before. That's not a book ban anymore. That's a fact ban.

The liberal MS NOW host went on to try to take some of the credit for the liberal victories by noting that his former weekend show had a regular segment in which he would discuss books that conservatives had removed from some school libraries and have their liberal authors on as guests.

He claimed the people opposed to conservatives "ran on getting the culture wars out of their kids' school board meetings." Liberals always pretend that they don't start "culture wars" or fight in them, even if that's exactly what he's describing. 

Transcript follows:

MS NOW's The 11th Hour

August 20, 2026

11:57 p.m. Eastern

ALI VELSHI: We spent a lot of time this week on a genuinely consequential primary in Florida. A Democratic Socialist candidate won the Democratic party nomination for Senate. A former Republican member of Congress won the Democratic nomination for governor. Whether either of them wins in November, that gets decided in 75 days, but something else happened in Florida on Tuesday. Quieter, lower profile. But it's something we've been watching for four years on the "Velshi Banned Book Club."

In the modern era, Florida is ground zero for the dimming of maybe the most basic light there is -- a kid's right to read. Four years ago, a conservative majority took control of the Sarasota County school board. That board banned books quietly through a process called weeding -- no hearing, no explanation required. Shortly after taking control, that conservative majority voted to oust the district superintendent for reasons it never fully explained. This week, the voters of Sarasota ended it.

Two former teachers, Beth Mayberry and Megan Tennimon, won their races outright. A third seat held for years by the board's own chair heads to a runoff in November, with Mayberry and Tennimon joining two current members who are not aligned with the conservative bloc. The board now has a commanding majority that does not look anything like the one that voters elected four years ago. The voters of Sarasota were not just picking new faces, they were ending four years of exactly the record you just heard.

Now, this didn't start in Sarasota, and it isn't ending there either. Moms for Liberty, the group behind these local school book bans, was founded in Florida in 2021. Their playbook spread next to Pennsylvania to two school boards outside Philadelphia -- Central Bucks and Pennridge. Republicans ran both boards. Both boards banned books. In 2023, voters put Democrats in every single school board seat that was up for election in both districts, flipping control of both boards. The same playbook spread to Texas to a school board outside Houston called Cypress-Fairbanks. Conservatives ran that board, too, and banned books.

This past November, voters there elected a new board and ended that conservative control. Here's the number that outlasts any one election. PEN America found that, of the roughly 3,700 unique book titles banned in the United States public schools last year, 44 percent featured characters or people of color, 29 percent were nonfiction. That's more than double the year before. That's not a book ban anymore. That's a fact ban.

We've spent four years trying to do something small about it -- the "Velshi Banned Book Club," 170 meetings and counting. We don't quote one paragraph that gets waved around at a school board meeting out of context -- we read the whole book. Every time we do, sales of that book spike -- people go find the book someone didn't want them to have. What happened in Sarasota this week is the same instinct just at the ballot box instead of the bookstore. Nobody there ran on national politics. They ran on getting the culture wars out of their kids' school board meetings. I believe a book on a shelf matters. I believe a parent who shows up to a school board meeting that no one else is watching matters. I believe 170 days of reading large chunks of a banned book out loud on television adds up to something, even when you can't point to the exact day on which it mattered.

This week in Sarasota, it mattered not because we said so -- because the voters said so. I'm certainly not making Moms for Liberty tonight's "Night Light," but I will give them credit for exactly one thing. They taught this country that school board elections, usually the lowest turnout races we have, are worth fighting over. This week, that lesson got turned against them again. These fights all happen locally -- at small meetings, at quiet polling places. They get decided by citizens who know what this country really stands for and who show up to defend its freedoms. The voters of Sarasota sent a message. They will decide what their own families read. They will keep the light on for their children. The 11th Hour is over. Tomorrow starts right now.