A North Carolina superintendent candidate says her comments about the Nov. 5 general election being the “American Revolution 2.0” are a reference to the “war” that families feel they are engaging in and against public schools.

Michele Morrow, the republican nominee to run the state’s public schools, wrote in a message to Republican groups in late September: “If we lose NC, we lose the White House and our future. Our children are being attacked. This is the American Revolution 2.0! We either willingly fight now, or we will be forced to fight on Nov 6th. This is war, ladies and gentlemen! Which side of history will you be on?”

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The message was posted Sept. 30 on the Wake Forest Area Republican Club’s website and attributed to her. It drew attention from political opponents who have criticized Morrow for statements advocating for political violence.

Morrow, a former nurse and homeschool mom, is in a tight race with Democrat Mo Green, a long-time public school system administrator.

She sought to clarify in a statement to WRAL News on Thursday that she was speaking figuratively in the Sept. 30 message.

“I am in no way calling for violence of any sort,” Morrow said in the statement. "Parents feel like they are at war with the failing school system, and students who are bullied and beaten in schools also feel like their schools are a war zone. Our children are suffering and they need a superintendent that is going to fight for them, not cover up bullying, sexual assaults or violent attacks in our schools. My choice of words reflects how students and parents are feeling. This is the fight I’m referring to and this is the fight that I will continue whether I am elected superintendent or not."

An Elon University poll in August showed 70% of North Carolinians have concerns about violence after this election or during the inauguration.

“Voters are very sensitive to candidates’ language connected to violence,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon University poll.

“It’s made people quite concerned, particularly given the events of January 6th to Trump assassination attempts and many other bad things that have happened over the last four, four or five years,” he said, referring to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Morrow, who was at the capitol that day but says she did not enter the building, called for violence before in social media posts after the 2020 presidential election. Morrow had called for using the military to keep former President Donald Trump in office. She previously called for the death of numerous Democratic and philanthropic leaders, including for former President Barack Obama to be executed on pay-per-view so that the government could make money off of it.

She told The 74 — a national education news outlet — that the posts were made in jest.

David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith College, said Morrow’s latest comments can’t be separated from her past comments — or the comments other Republican politicians or activists have made more generally.

“Political discourse has gotten very extreme including calls for violence from the former president and others,” McLennan said. “And I think that's where Morrow's comments really worry people is because it's not just an isolated case of a war against woke in the classroom, but it's considered to be part of a broader approach to this election season — is really a war between different belief systems and different cultures and that, others have been more explicit in the call for violence.”

The superintendent position oversees the distribution of more than $13 billion in state and federal funds and supports the work of school systems across the state. Some parents told WRAL News Thursday that they were uncomfortable with Morrow’s comments.

“Her approach was way too aggressive,” said Ajani Kapri, a Wake County father of two. “You can’t say things like calling a children’s education a war. It’s not a war. It’s a battle if anything if you want to word it that way but the way you word things actually matters.”

Morrow’s Sept. 30 message had urged her supporters in Wake County to attend a school board meeting in support of her and a pastor known for disrupting school board meetings. She called it a “free” campaign “commercial” and asked people to buy campaign T-shirts ahead of time to coordinate. A few dozen people wearing Morrow shirts attended the meeting.

The pastor, John Amanchukwu, accused board members of violating state law because of books that were available in schools. Board members said they were not and that the state law he was referring to doesn’t regulate library books. Amanchukwu demanded “justice” for a tenth grader who unenrolled from her Wake County high school after reading a paragraph in an English assignment that contained a description of incest.

Amanchukwu ended up escorted from the building and briefly in handcuffs after refusing to leave the podium when his three minutes of public comment were up.

Morrow supporters filmed the incident, and the majority of them left the meeting with Amanchukwu.

Morrow was at the meeting but left before Amanchukwu spoke.

“Wake County Public Schools has refused to respect the will of conservative parents and has chosen to push dangerous ideologies instead of academic excellence,” Morrow said in Thursday’s statement.

The girl’s father later told WRAL News that Morrow had never contacted the girl or her family.