Mike Pence rails against 'racist' public education at a private Christian college in Virginia days before the state's heated gubernatorial election

• Mike Pence denounced anti-racism education in public schools during a speech in Loudoun County, Virginia.
• Pence spoke to an overwhelmingly white crowd at a small, private Christian college days before the gubernatorial election.

PURCELLVILLE, VA - Former Vice President Mike Pence denounced anti-racist education in public schools at Patrick Henry College, a small, private Christian school in Loudoun County, Virginia on Thursday afternoon, less than a week before the state's competitive gubernatorial election.

"We believe that parents should be the ultimate authority in education," Pence told the overwhelmingly white audience of about 300. "It's time to end government monopoly of public education in America."

Pence denounced "critical race theory" - the broad academic theory that American institutions, including the criminal justice and healthcare systems, are systemically racist - and argued that teaching it in schools amounts to "state-sponsored racism. White kids, he argued, "are being taught to be ashamed of their skin color." He called the anti-racist education the "most egregious example of the leftwing agenda in our public schools."

Pence commended parents who've protested against Loudoun County's equity initiatives and policies, which have drawn national attention amid heated conflicts between parents and school boards in recent months.

"Critical race theory is founded on the slander that America is a racist nation," Pence said. "America is the most just, righteous, and inclusive nation the world has ever known."

He argued that "science, history and math are increasingly be taught through the lens of racial grievance."

Patrick Henry College students in attendance, most of whom said they were homeschooled, told Insider they agreed with Pence that anti-racist training and curricula pose a threat to public school students.

Sarah V., a 17-year-old PHC freshman who was homeschooled in Loudoun County, told Insider that critical race theory involved teaching "kids to hate other kids based on their skin color." Sarah, who requested her last name not be used to protect her privacy, argued that while there are "certain instances" of racism in America, systemic racism doesn't exist.

Dan Mainieri, a 21-year-old senior at PHC originally from Pennsylvania, said he thinks "people shouldn't be defined by the color of their skin," but said "there are definitely faults" in the criminal justice, education, and healthcare systems. Ronen Wyrick, an 18-year-old freshman at PHC, said he hasn't seen "any evidence" of systemic racism.

Ben Crosby, a Patrick Henry College senior who spoke at the event, lamented the ongoing "violent attack on educational freedom" in public schools. Crosby noted that he was homeschooled.

Pence celebrated that thousands of public school kids left Loudon County schools during the pandemic and many more are being homeschooled. The former vice president also spoke about his support for increased school choice and celebrated the Trump administration's efforts on this issue.

Pence's speech was billed as part of a series of events he's held across the country over the last few months, including a speech on US-China relations at the Heritage Foundation in July, and an event focused on law enforcement and crime in Hillsboro, Oregon earlier this month.

But the timing of Pence's visit to Virginia was also strategic, as the state will go to the polls next week to elect its next governor in perhaps the most closely-watched race so far in Biden's presidency. Debates over public education have become central in the gubernatorial race. Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin has dug in on opposing anti-racist education in public schools and vaccine mandates. Earlier this month, he released a campaign ad featuring a Virginia parent who campaigned to remove Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 book "Beloved" from public school curricula because of its explicit content.

A few members of "Fight for Schools," a group of Loudoun County parents seeking to recall several school board members, sought to recruit new volunteers at Thursday's event. Parents said they were particularly concerned with the County's policy that students are allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.

"There's a very small percentage of kids that are trans in the community and you're putting the entire rest of the community at risk or at discomfort for a handful of kids," Erin Dunbar, a 43-year-old mother who has three children in County public schools, told Insider of the policy.

Amy Jahr, a 52-year-old mother of four, said her daughters attend Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, where a 15-year-old boy sexually assaulted a female classmate in a bathroom in May. The assault has become a flashpoint in the debate over the bathroom policy, despite the fact that the policy was adopted after the assault. Jahr argued the bathroom policy was rushed through and parents weren't adequately consulted.

Patrick Henry College, a tiny school an hour west of Washington, DC, gave Pence a warm welcome just over five years after his last visit to the campus during the 2016 presidential election. During her introduction, Laura Zorc, the director of education reform at the conservative group Freedom Works, called Pence "the greatest vice president we've ever had in America" to cheers from the audience. A student publication, The Herald, featured a image of a Trump/Pence campaign button with "Trump" scratched out and "2016" replaced with "2024" and a question mark.

The Herald reported that the former vice president, a devout evangelical Christian, was invited by PHC's president to speak on campus during a meeting they had in December 2020.

Pence made no mention of the GOP's false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, nor of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, during which he and his family were evacuated from the Senate floor and Trump loyalists called for his execution.

For several months following Biden's inauguration, which Pence attended without Trump, Pence laid low. In a March op-ed in the right-wing outlet The Daily Signal, Pence promoted misleading claims about the 2020 election, writing that he was concerned with "the integrity of the 2020 election" due to "significant" and "troubling" voting irregularities. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the election and Trump administration officials deemed it the most secure election in US history.

In April, he launched a political advocacy group, "Advancing American Freedom," with the mission of promoting the Trump administration's legacy and exploring his next moves in politics. He made his first public appearance post-White House on April 29 in a speech to the Palmetto Family Foundation, a conservative Christian group. In May, he and his wife, Karen Pence, bought a home in an upscale Carmel, Indiana neighborhood.