State superintendent candidates Jill Underly and Deborah Kerr won Tuesday’s primary election and will be moving on to the general April 6 election.
Underly earned 27% of the vote and Kerr earned 26% in a crowded race of seven candidates, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Underly shared a statement on Twitter following her win and spoke about opening schools safely and how she will represent the children of Wisconsin.
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“I’m looking forward to making my case to the people of Wisconsin and getting to work on day one as Wisconsin’s next State Superintendent of Public Instruction,” Underly said. “Thank you for all of your support. We couldn’t have made it this far without you.”
Underly and Kerr beat out candidates Sheila Briggs, Shandowlyon Hendricks-Williams, Troy Gunderson, Steve Krull and Joe Fenrick in the election.
Going into the election, Kerr led in fundraising overall, and Underly held large endorsements from teachers unions in the state, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
In a statement on her website, Kerr spoke about bringing all sides of the political spectrum together with the goal of supporting Wisconsin’s school systems.
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“I’m thankful to my candidate colleagues who stepped up to run and the conversations we were able to have with everyone in Wisconsin,” Kerr said. “I look forward to the race ahead and sharing this moment with Dr. Jill Underly.”
Following the primary election, Kerr received backlash on Twitter and deleted her account after sharing a story about a time she was called a racial slur as a teenager, according to Madison 365. A Twitter user asked other people to share “the first time someone called you the n-word” and Kerr, who is white, responded with a time she was called the n-word when she was 16 because “[Her] lips were bigger than most.”
Following the tweet, several users criticized Kerr’s response, calling it insensitive, and Kerr blocked several users before eventually deleting her account, according to Madison 365.
