Dan Shafer:

In the upcoming Spring Election, the highest-profile race is the one for Wisconsin Supreme Court, the latest in Wisconsin’s seemingly endless number of everything-on-the-line elections. 

The undercard, then, is the race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Elections for this ostensibly nonpartisan office have not always attracted much attention, but this year’s race might buck that trend.

And while in Wisconsin, statewide races are often decided by razor-thin margins, elections for State Superintendent have historically not been all that close. In the 2021 election, an open contest with no incumbent, Dr. Jill Underly won by a more than 15-point margin, defeating Deborah Kerr by about 58% to 42%. That was closer than the marks that now-Governor and former State Superintendent Tony Evers was re-elected with, receiving more than 60% of the vote in both 2013 and 2017 after winning an open race in 2009 with just over 57% of the vote. Evers’ predecessor as State Superintendent, Elizabeth Burmaster, received at least 60% of the vote both times she ran for the role. The election for State Superintendent has not been one decided by a less than double-digit margin since John Benson was re-elected to the position in 1997, winning 54.7% of the vote. 

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So, races for this office have not been closely competitive for quite some time. And while those who have won elections for State Superintendent have been relatively more Democratic-aligned, it’s still been a role in the tradition of the office being a nonpartisan one, and has been a role held largely by former school administrators. 

But now, in 2025, we could very well be looking at a more competitive election for State Superintendent than we’ve seen in some time. Given the dynamics in this race and how closely tied outcomes and turnout might be to the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, it stands to reason this could end up being the closest race for the office we’ve seen in decades. 

Brittany Kinser  — an education consultant and former executive at a charter school, who also was the CEO (and a lobbyist) for pro-charter nonprofit City Forward Collective — advanced to the head-to-head general election after advancing in the primary, coming in second behind Underly. Underly ended up with 38% of the vote, Kinser with 35% and Jeff Wright, superintendent of Sauk Prairie Schools, was the odd man out with just over 27%. 

There are a couple different ways you could read these results. One is that the two Democratic-aligned candidates, Underly (who was endorsed by WisDems) and Wright (a self-described Democrat) combined for more than 65% of the vote, suggesting that this race might not be all that close, after all. 

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