Des Moines Public Schools Board Chair Jackie Norris ended her U.S. Senate campaign Thursday after facing mounting criticism over her call for radical empathy toward former superintendent Ian Andre Roberts — an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record who led Iowa’s largest school district until his recent arrest.
Norris, a Democrat and former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, said she was withdrawing because the “superintendent crisis” demanded her full attention and had placed her “in the crosshairs of vicious and coordinated attacks.” She added that the turmoil “took time and oxygen away from the work I set out to do: stand up for our kids and families.”
Roberts resigned Sept. 30 following his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a brief car chase. Agents reportedly found a gun, a hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash in his vehicle. Federal officials said Roberts had been deported in 2004, reentered the U.S. illegally, and was later charged with multiple weapon and reckless driving offenses.
Despite his criminal past and illegal status, Roberts somehow obtained active voter registration as a Democrat in Maryland. The school board also admitted it knew he had not graduated from Morgan State University as his résumé claimed when it hired him in 2023.
Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson called for Norris’s resignation, saying she “can’t even run the bare minimum of hiring standards.”
In her statement, Norris said the board is “bringing accountability — leading with grace, transparency, and resolve.”
