Wisconsin’s incumbent State Superintendent Jill Underly will face off against education consultant Brittany Kinser in the April 1 general election.
Voter turnout sat at just 11.98%, with 467,239 people voting out of the registered 3.9 million people in Wisconsin. This is still an improvement compared to Underly’s victory in 2021, which saw 9% of voters turning out for the election.
Underly received 38% of the vote, while Kinser came in second with 34.6% and Jeff Wright earned 27.4%.
Kinser has been backed by the conservative Moms for Liberty-Ozaukee County. Her support on the issue of school choice has earned her support from Republican leaders across the state.
Despite her lack of a teaching license, Kinser advanced to the general election with a third of yesterday’s vote.
“I am inspired and humbled by the level of support my campaign has received in just a few short months. From now until April 1, I will continue to travel the state and share my plan to bring a clean slate, a fresh start and a fundamentally new approach to DPI,” Kinser said in a statement shortly after the primary was called.
Underly is endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, along with other state politicians.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler threw his support behind Underly, applauding her efforts to expand education access in Wisconsin.
“As Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jill helped pass a new bipartisan literacy law, raised standards for math and science, and expanded career and technical education,” Wikler said in a statement Wednesday. “Kinser’s campaign is funded by Republican megadonors and stage-managed by a former Republican legislator because they love that Kinser has promised to drain funds from our public schools and give them to private for-profit schools.”
Both Kinser’s and Underly’s campaigns support increasing student literacy rates. This is in response to criticism of Underly’s new educational benchmark system, which Underly has repeatedly defended.
The outcome of this election will impact the way funding is distributed to schools, how schools measure student progress and parental control over children’s education.
The primary election in Wisconsin will take place on Tuesday, April 1. In Wisconsin, in-person absentee voting opens 14 days before Election Day and runs through the Sunday before Election Day.
Madison residents, including students voting with a Madison address, can vote early at Memorial Union, Union South, any Madison Public Library branch and other locations.
