ENCINITAS — Trustee Maureen “Mo” Muir, a conservative voice on the San Dieguito Union High School District board just shy of a decade, will not seek re-election to her District 1 seat, according to a campaign statement.
Muir, an Encinitas resident who has served on the school board since 2014, wrote in Thursday’s press release that she was stepping away from local government to spend more time with family once her four-year term expires this year.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to finish out my term as president of the San Dieguito Union High School District through the end of the year and not seek re-election,” Muir wrote. “Being able to fully support my family, especially my 101-year-old mother-in-law, and step away from politics is the right decision for us in this season of our lives.”
According to the San Diego County Republican Party website, Muir did not receive a party endorsement, which some have speculated was the driving factor behind her withdrawal from the race.
In an email from Trustee Michael Allman to the San Diego County Republican central committee, Allman expressed disappointment Muir was dropping out of the race in a “heavily Democrat district,” an obstacle he believed the candidate could overcome with the party’s support.
“Unfortunately, as we know she fell two votes short of the party endorsement requirement,” Allman wrote. “Without the support of the party, she concluded that the hurdle becomes too high given her personal situation.”
Allman also requested the party’s replacement candidate for Muir in District 1, noting the filing deadline for non-incumbent races is Aug. 17. With Muir out of the running, Rimga Viskanta, a former Encinitas Union School District board member, is the lone candidate in District 1, as of this article’s publication.
The San Diego County Republican Party website currently has “no endorsement” for District 1 on the San Dieguito school board. The Coast News has attempted to contact the party for a statement and will update the story with any further comment.
In 2008, Muir was elected to the Encinitas Union School District and served for six years before she won an at-large bid on the San Dieguito school board in 2014. During her time in office, Muir, who graduated from the University of San Diego in 1984, served as a board liaison for the North Coastal Consortium for Special Needs and completed the California School Board Association masters of governance program.
Muir’s political career is not without controversy. In 2018, she was reportedly linked to Kenneth Moser’s robocall fiasco involving 47,610 unlawfully “spoofed” phone calls directed against her fellow Republican opponent Phillip Graham in a heated race for the 76th State Assembly District seat.
According to Moser’s statements to the Federal Communications Commission, Muir’s husband, former Encinitas council member Mark Muir, emailed Moser requesting his telemarketing company, Marketing Support Systems, distribute a message repeating fraudulent sexual misconduct claims against Graham — an allegation Sheriff’s investigators had already publicly disproven.
Maureen Muir finished fourth in the 76th District primary race behind Graham, who took third despite a fabricated controversy surrounding his campaign. In 2019, Moser was fined $9.9 million for “willful and repeated” violations of federal communications law.
