!HUNDREDS OF U.S. TEACHER CANDIDATES!

In this April 25, 2018 file photo NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia speaks
 at the #RedForEd Walkout, March and Rally news conference regarding
teacher pay and school funding in Phoenix. 

HUNDREDS OF U.S. teacher candidates shake up midterm elections......

LAST September, school speech therapist Kathy Hoffman was settling into the new academic year, working with youngsters in her small classroom behind a playground at Sahuaro Ranch Elementary School in a blue-collar neighborhood outside Phoenix.

This year, the political novice is gone from her classroom and on the campaign trail across Arizona full-time as the Democrat's choice in the race to become superintendent of public education, overseeing the state's schools. It's a post typically held by career politicians or political insiders.

''My tipping point was the realizing that we need more teachers running for office, people who understand what's it like in the classroom, who have seen the effect of having the lack of resources from our lawmakers,'' Hoffman said.

Hundreds of current and former educators, most of them Democrats like Hoffman, are on general election ballots from school board to governor - far exceeding educator candidacies prior to this year's successful #RedForEd protests.

In her first campaign during the Democratic primary, the 32-year old Hoffman beat a former beat  senate minority leader, illustrating how much a surge in teacher activism centering on higher teacher pay and increased educational funding have shaken up November midterm elections around the U.S.

She and other teacher candidates represent a  wild-card  political movement following the teacher-driven #RedForEd effort that drew support from parents and school children in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky. Oklahoma and West Virginia and also focused on outdated textbooks, crowded classrooms and teacher shortages.

Across the country, some educators have already won primary races against the incumbent state legislators they blamed for public spending cutbacks.

''It's about standing up for what's right and bringing that teacher's voice to that position,'' Hoffman said. ''I felt it should come straight from the classroom.'' [Agencies]