Underly Projected Winner In Wisconsin State Superintendent Race

WISCONSIN — Jill Underly is the projected winner in the Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction election, according to a race call made by The Associated Press.

Underly defeated Deborah Kerr in Tuesday's statewide election. Underly had been backed by Democrats in the statewide race, getting endorsements from Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Reps. Mark Pocan, Ron Kind and Gwen Moore.

Patch will update this article with the latest results as they come in:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Jill Underly: 392,169 votes

Deborah Kerr: 299,194 votes

Unofficial results as tabulated by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The position is currently held by Carolyn Stanford Taylor, who was appointed to the role in January 2019 and is the state's first Black superintendent. Stanford announced last year that she would not seek re-election.

Prior to Taylor, the position was held by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.

The winner of Tuesday's race will serve a four-year term in the nonpartisan seat.

Patch reached out to both candidates to fill out our candidate questionnaire form.

Below is what Underly shared with Patch about why she should be elected:

"I'm running for State Superintendent to make sure that every child has what they need to learn and succeed every day. I want strong public schools that are well funded, to provide not just the basics for kids, but all the opportunities that public schools need to provide so that our kids can thrive in the 21st century," Underly wrote.

Underly has been the superintendent of the Pecatonica Area School District for six years.

Read Underly's full candidate profile on Patch.

Kerr did not respond to Patch's request to fill out our candidate profile form.

Kerr is the former superintendent for the Brown Deer School District. In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, Kerr cited her long career in education when making her case for why she should be elected.

Read Kerr's full interview with WPR.