6 Things to Remember About Brittany Kinser’s Big Victory Tuesday

Moderate education reformer Brittany Kinser’s big victory in a three-way primary on Tuesday night sets up an epic showdown between Kinser and liberal incumbent Jill Underly in the state Department of Public Instruction race this April.

The AP called the primary for Underly and Kinser, with Superintendent Jeff Wright, a liberal, coming in third. That means the top two finishers – Kinser and Underly – square off this April. Although Underly had more votes, slightly, than Kinser did, the charter school advocate who leads in fundraising (by a lot) gives the school choice movement its best chance ever to seize a post typically held by liberal Democrats.

With 95% of the vote in, according to AP, Jill Underly had 168,037 votes (37.5%); Brittany Kinser had 156,959 votes (35.1%); and Jeff Wright had 122,614 votes (27.4%).

That being said, Kinser, who has a history as a Democrat, should appeal to Independents and moderate Democrats as well as conservatives, and her primary night statement clearly is making an appeal to people of all political backgrounds. She got into the race because of disgust over Underly weakening of school testing scores, which she thinks hurts kids.

Here are 6 things to remember about Brittany Kinser’s big victory, making it through the primary:

1. Jill Underly Is Very Vulnerable

The incumbent only managed to get about 38% of the vote.

Jill Underly, the leftist incumbent, is extremely vulnerable. Gov. Tony Evers refused to endorse Underly in the primary and has been subtly shading her for months. She drew Wright as an opponent because teachers and superintendents all over the state were upset that she sandbagged them with weakened school testing scores.

Underly’s lack of competence has been on display all year. Faced with shockingly low literacy rates for black kids, her response was to water down the school testing scores. Faced with MPS’s shocking fiscal failures, she and her office decided to hold that key information back from Milwaukee voters until they passed a huge referendum. She has long railed about liberal causes and opposes education freedom. While Evers may endorse her now that she’s made it through the primary, his tepid comments during the primary should not be forgotten. Even WEAC’s PAC backed Wright in the primary.

2. Education Freedom Is a Big Point of Differentiation

Brittany Kinser is the only candidate in the race who supports education reform. She ran a charter school network in Milwaukee County, and she supports school choice. Underly does not.

3. Jill Underly’s 1st Place Primary Finish Means Little

Democrats may try to make hay out of the fact that far more people voted for Underly and Wright combined than for Kinser. However, remember that turnout will be much higher in April, especially due to the state Supreme Court race. Turnout was extremely low on Tuesday because it was a February primary and bitter cold. WEAC and the Democratic Party are good at motivating teachers to vote in primaries like this.

However, conservatives are extremely motivated to vote for former Republican AG Brad Schimel, who is leading in overall fundraising when third-party groups are considered, and Elon Musk’s PAC is now engaged in that race. This will drive up conservative turnout and, since it’s hard to imagine any conservatives choosing the way-out-there Jill Underly, that’s good news for Kinser. Turnout will make April a very different ball game. Schimel could carry Kinser over.

4. The Kinser Vs. Underly Contest Will Distract the Democratic Establishment, Helping Brad Schimel

The Democratic establishment will now be distracted, with some of its resources and energy diverted to a desperate effort to cling to the DPI post, which propelled Evers to the governor’s mansion in the past. That helps Brad Schimel.

5. Brittany Kinser Is a True Moderate

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Dan Bice falsely labeled Kinser a “conservative.” She’s not; she’s better described as a hard-to-politically-define recent Democrat who wants to DEPOLITICIZE the office and education and get the focus back on the basics (reading, writing). Sure, that’s a cause that many conservatives support. It’s also a cause that many Democrats and Independents would likely support, but look for the liberal media and the left to try to falsely label Kinser.

Many conservatives decided Underly and Wright were far worse. However, many of them also found Kinser’s focus on the basics and standards refreshing.

It’s true that Kinser received support from Republicans, including state Republican Party Chair Brian Schimming and county GOP parties, as well as school choice advocates, which was no small feat for a candidate who recently donated to Tammy Baldwin. She leads in fundraising by a lot. However, Kinser earned the votes of conservatives, doing many no-holds-barred interviews and meeting with voters at county parties all over the state.

She was honest about the fact she’s been a long-term Democrat. She also was very clear on the areas where her values align with the values of conservatives.

Kinser offered conservatives common-sense views. For example, Kinser is against boys competing in girls’ sports, which Democrats will try to paint as extreme but is now a crossover issue, and she railed at Underly for the disasters in Milwaukee Public Schools under her watch, including the lead poisoning of kids. Mostly, though, her focus is simply on making sure kids get a good education.

Brittany Kinser won’t be easy for the left to label. They’re already trying to fit Kinser into a neat box (Bice’s post, people trashing her for being endorsed by Moms for Liberty.) But the typical liberal playbook of “she’s an extremist hatemonger” isn’t going to play with Kinser.

6. Brittany Kinser Has the Credentials to Run DPI & a History of Helping Kids of All Races Succeed

Kinser has years of education credentials. She was a special education teacher. A science teacher. She spent eight years teaching in Chicago Public Schools, according to her LinkedIn page. She has a master’s degree in designing science curriculum. She started a robotics team in Chicago that was “one of the top 20 robotics teams in the world, mostly black and brown kids living in poverty.” In fact, that’s how she was “introduced to Milwaukee.” They competed there. Then she came to this city and started running Rocketship charter schools.

She later became the CEO of a venture called City Forward Collective. She opened a math and science academy in Chicago. She started a tutoring program that showed dramatic results in helping kids read.

Read our deep dive on Kinser here.