Progressive candidates dominate superintendent elections, poised to win 11 of 16 districts

By Kim Yong-jae, The Herald Business

A new era of progressive school superintendents is set to begin after four years. Progressive-leaning candidates swept to victory or near-certain wins in Wednesday's nationwide superintendent elections, and in several districts conservative incumbents lost their seats — an unusual outcome that showed the limits of the incumbency advantage.

According to the National Election Commission's vote count as of 4:20 a.m. Thursday, progressive-leaning candidates had won or were projected to win in 11 of the country's 16 districts. Moderate and conservative candidates led in only four districts: Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, North Chungcheong Province and Sejong.

On the progressive side, confirmed winners included Kim Dae-jung in South Jeolla Province and Gwangju, Cheon Ho-seong in North Jeolla Province, Kim Seok-jun in Busan and Ko Eui-suk in Jeju. Candidates projected to win included Kang Sam-young in Gangwon Province, Jung Geun-sik in Seoul, Do Seong-hun in Incheon, Jo Yong-sik in Ulsan, Ahn Min-seok in Gyeonggi Province and Song Yeong-gi in South Gyeongsang Province.

On the conservative side, only a handful of incumbents held on. Yoon Geon-young in North Chungcheong Province was confirmed the winner, while Kang Eun-hee in Daegu, Im Jong-sik in North Gyeongsang Province and Kang Mi-ae — a moderate conservative — in Sejong were projected to win.

In Daejeon, progressive candidate Seong Gwang-jin and conservative candidate Oh Seok-jin were locked in an extremely tight race, with Oh holding a narrow lead.

A notable feature of this election was how little the incumbency advantage counted. Progressive candidates unseated sitting conservative superintendents in Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province and Jeju. In Gyeonggi Province, Ahn Min-seok was projected to defeat incumbent Im Tae-hee; in Gangwon Province, Kang Sam-young was set to oust incumbent Shin Gyeong-ho. In Jeju, Ko Eui-suk, a former Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union member, defeated incumbent Kim Gwang-su.

Superintendent races typically draw relatively low voter interest, which has historically favored incumbents — who benefit from name recognition and organizational strength — allowing many to win second or third terms.

In the Seoul race, which drew a record eight candidates, incumbent Jung Geun-sik appeared on track for reelection. Both the progressive and conservative camps failed to consolidate behind a single candidate, splitting the vote and allowing Jung, buoyed by his incumbency advantage, to emerge with the most support.

Superintendent elections in 2014 and 2018 saw progressive candidates win 13 and 14 districts respectively, defining what became known as the era of progressive superintendents. The 2022 election narrowed that gap — progressives won nine districts to conservatives' eight — signaling a weakening of the progressive bloc's dominance.

With progressives now poised to control a majority of districts again, education policy is expected to shift in a progressive direction, with greater momentum behind abolishing autonomous private high schools, strengthening civic education, expanding student rights and public education, and broadening education welfare programs.

On May 15, 15 progressive superintendent candidates — including Jung Geun-sik, Ahn Min-seok and Cheon Ho-seong — jointly declared a set of shared campaign pledges, among them converting autonomous private high schools and foreign language high schools into regular public schools and guaranteeing teachers' basic political rights.

The incoming progressive superintendents are also expected to deepen coordination through the Council of Metropolitan and Provincial Superintendents of Education, which serves as a collective voice on local education policy and coordinates with the Ministry of Education on national education initiatives.