Jill Underly, the Democratic Party-backed superintendent of Pecatonica School District, defeated former Brown Deer Schools superintendent Deborah Kerr Tuesday to become the state’s top education official.
As of 9:30 p.m., Underly had 372,228 votes while Kerr had 281,469. About 66% of precincts were reporting results, with absentee ballots still left to be counted. Nevertheless, Underly declared victory and Kerr called her late in the evening to concede.
Underly will start the job in July, taking over for Carolyn Stanford Taylor, who was appointed to the state superintendent position by Tony Evers when he became governor. Evers held the post for nearly a decade.