April 6 marked state superintendent and Madison Common Council elections in the state of Wisconsin.
Jill Underly and Deborah Kerr competed for the seat of state superintendent and Underly pulled ahead with 58% of the vote on election day.
Though the race for the superintendent seat is meant to be nonpartisan, Underly seemed to be supported by Democrats while Kerr was mostly supported by Republicans, according to Channel 3000.
“I’m ready to get to work and build a stronger, more equitable public education system that provides every child, every day with the world-class public education system they deserve,” Underly said in a tweet.
The Madison Common Council also held elections on Tuesday, with 11 seats up for grabs.
Juliana Bennett and Ayomi Obuseh, two University of Wisconsin students, both sought the District 8 seat, which includes the UW campus. Bennett earned nearly two thirds of the vote, beating Obuseh and becoming the first Black District 8 Alder, according to Madison 365. She will replace Max Prestigiacomo, who endorsed her campaign after deciding not to run for reelection.
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In a statement released on social media, Bennett shared her hopes for the future.
“This is just the beginning of our movement,” Bennett said. “We have a long way to go before we win affordable housing, sustainability and other important goals that we’ve set during this campaign.”
District 9, which is located on the west side of the city, also has a new alder — Nikki Conklin, who defeated Paul Skidmore after he served two decades on the Common Council. Conklin built her platform on affordable housing and equity.
District 2, which includes off-campus housing on Langdon Street was won by incumbent Patrick Heck, who campaigned against Benji Ramirez Gomez. Ramirez Gomez campaigned as a democratic socialist, along with Tessa Echeverria, who ran against incumbent Syed Abbas in District 12. Both lost and did not get more than 40% of the vote.
“Grateful to all 843 beautiful human beings who resonated with what we had to say,” Ramirez Gomez said in a tweet. “Please, please, please, reach out if you voted for our campaign, donated to the campaign, shared the campaign. The work is not done. La lucha siempre sigue.”
