Union-Backed Educator Faces GOP Critic in Wisconsin \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Wisconsin voters will decide two key issues Tuesday: the election of the state’s top education official and whether to enshrine voter ID laws in the state constitution. The superintendent race features a union-backed incumbent against a Republican-endorsed challenger, while the ID amendment could further entrench voting restrictions.
Wisconsin Education and Voter ID Showdown: Quick Looks
- State votes on new education chief and voter ID amendment
- Incumbent Jill Underly faces GOP-backed Brittany Kinser
- Underly supported by teachers union, Kinser backs school vouchers
- Winner oversees public school policy under Trump’s second term
- State lacks a board of education; superintendent holds wide power
- Voter ID law, already in effect, could become constitutional
- GOP argues amendment protects elections; Democrats call it restrictive
- Voter ID critics say it burdens marginalized communities
- Wisconsin has the strictest photo ID law in the nation
- Low turnout expected despite high partisan stakes
Deep Look
Wisconsin voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide two high-stakes issues that will help shape the state’s future in education policy and voting rights. Though overshadowed by battles for legislative and judicial control in past elections, the contests for state superintendent of schools and a constitutional amendment on voter ID reflect deeply partisan debates with long-term consequences.
Education Showdown: Underly vs. Kinser
At the center of Tuesday’s ballot is the race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a role that in Wisconsin comes with unusually broad authority. With no state board of education, the winner of this race will play a leading role in K–12 education policy under President Donald Trump’s second term.
The election pits incumbent Jill Underly, a Democrat-endorsed educator backed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), against Brittany Kinser, a school consultant and advocate for private school vouchers, who is endorsed by Republican leaders, including former governors Scott Walker and Tommy Thompson.
Underly, 47, has served as state superintendent since 2021. Her background includes teaching high school social studies in Indiana, working for Wisconsin’s education department, and leading a rural elementary school as a principal and district administrator. She has championed increased public school funding and fought back against efforts to expand voucher programs, which she argues drain public resources.
Kinser, also 47, brings a résumé rooted in urban and charter education. She spent nearly a decade in Chicago Public Schools before moving on to leadership roles in charter and voucher school networks in California and Milwaukee. Most notably, she led the Rocketship charter schools in Milwaukee and later joined City Forward Collective, a nonprofit that supports school choice options.
She’s positioning herself as a moderate reformer who wants to improve education access across all school types but has sharply criticized Underly’s management of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Kinser pointed to Underly’s controversial overhaul of academic standards in 2023—a move met with bipartisan pushback, including from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, himself a former state superintendent.
Kinser argues that the new standards lowered expectations, making it harder to evaluate school performance. Underly defends the update, saying it better reflects modern educational goals. She, in turn, has portrayed Kinser as a voucher industry lobbyist with little concern for public schools.
If Kinser wins, she would become the first GOP-aligned superintendent in more than 30 years—a seismic shift in a state where public education has long been a political battleground.
Ballot Battle: Voter ID Law Amendment
Also on the ballot is a proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine Wisconsin’s photo ID voting requirement—a law already on the books since 2011. While the amendment wouldn’t change the law’s current implementation, it would make it significantly harder for future Democratic majorities to repeal or alter the statute.
Republicans champion the measure as a safeguard against judicial interference and a guarantee of election integrity. “We need to lock this in so no judge or liberal lawmaker can erase it,” said one GOP lawmaker who sponsored the amendment.
Democrats, civil rights groups, and election advocates warn that enshrining the law could further entrench voter suppression tactics. They point to studies showing that photo ID laws disproportionately affect voters of color, disabled individuals, and low-income residents, all of whom are less likely to have qualifying identification.
If approved, the measure would insert the ID requirement into the state constitution, requiring future legislatures to pass another constitutional amendment to overturn it. Constitutional amendments in Wisconsin must be passed by two consecutive legislative sessions and approved in a statewide referendum—a deliberately high bar for reversal.
Wisconsin is one of nine states requiring a strict photo ID to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), and its law is considered the toughest in the country. While 36 states require or request ID at the polls, only a few enforce it as rigorously as Wisconsin, where the law was permanently implemented in 2016 after surviving multiple court challenges.
Why It Matters
Though neither contest has attracted national headlines like Wisconsin’s 2023 Supreme Court race, they hold enormous implications. The next state superintendent will oversee curriculum development, school accountability systems, and education equity initiatives—all while test scores lag and the state grapples with the nation’s worst racial achievement gap.
Meanwhile, the voter ID amendment could shape future voting access battles, especially as Wisconsin remains a key swing state in presidential elections. Enshrining the ID law in the constitution would effectively lock in a policy that’s been at the heart of legal and political debates for over a decade.
With low turnout expected in this off-cycle election, the outcomes may come down to organized grassroots efforts, particularly from teachers’ unions, school choice advocates, and voter rights organizations.
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