(The Center Square) – The race for Wisconsin’s state superintendent of schools is set.
Incumbent Superintendent Jill Underly and education consultant Brittany Kinser were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary election.
Underly grabbed the most votes, with an unofficial count of 177,397. Kinser finished second with an official vote count of 161,585. Sauk Prairie Superintendent Jeff Wright came in third in the three-person race with an unofficial vote count of 128,253.
“I am deeply grateful to the voters of Wisconsin for their support in this primary election. We have a shared commitment to Wisconsin’s public schools, educators, and most importantly, our kids,” Underly said in a statement before attacking Kinser. “My opponent, Brittany Kinser, is a former lobbyist who has never held a teaching license in the state of Wisconsin. She has lobbied to drain funds from our public schools and give it to private schools. She’s even advocated to remove teacher licensing requirements. Those policies will put our public schools on a dangerous race to the bottom.”
Kinser promised to share her ideas over the next month.
“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,” she said.
Kinser got support from Republicans across the state, and the Wisconsin Republican Party congratulated her Tuesday night.
“Brittany Kinser is the common-sense candidate for State Superintendent. Tonight, voters took a stand against the far-left policies of Jill Underly. They are fed up with liberal ideas being prioritized over their children. We look forward to building on this momentum as we head into the Spring General Election,” Republican chairman Brian Schimming said.
Wisconsin Democrats responded.
“Kinser’s campaign is funded by Republican mega-donors 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. Kinser even advocated to remove teacher licensing requirements. Our kids don’t need a right-wing puppet to lead our schools. That’s why, come April 1, Jill Underly will be re-elected,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler said in a statement.
The election was not well attended. Election managers said the unofficial turnout was just under 10%.
Underly and Kinser will next face each other in the April election.
