Democrats seize on education as an issue to win governorships in Republican states
Right after the bell rings to end the school day, Shari Gateley hurriedly tidies up her classroom and dashes into the teachers' lounge. She emerges in sneakers and a campaign T-shirt, ready to knock on doors for Drew Edmondson, the Democratic candidate for governor in traditionally Republican Oklahoma.
Gateley was one of thousands of teachers who walked out this year to protest spending cuts and low salaries, an experience she remembers as inspiring but ultimately unsatisfying. Although the Republicans who run the state agreed to grant raises, education funding remained low as class sizes rose.
"There were legislators that said to us, 'Teachers don't vote, so I don't really care,'" she said.
She's been out to prove them wrong ever since, volunteering for a political campaign for the first time in her life. And Gateley is part of a wave of teacher-led
