Agard, Pellebon survive Dane County executive primary

With 57% of the vote, Agard emerges as the clear frontrunner while Pellebon pledges to raise more money to narrow the gap

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Democratic state Sen. Melissa Agard, who easily won Tuesday’s four-candidate Dane County Executive race with 57% of the vote, says the road to a victory in the Nov. 5 general election won't be easy.

With Wisconsin’s status as a battleground state for the presidential election and the high-profile race for U.S. Senate, Agard says “there’s gonna be a lot of noise.” She says she plans to keep up momentum by continuing to meet with voters and local organizations and identifying unaddressed issues in Dane County “where we can do better.”

“This is a special election for a nonpartisan race on probably one of the most hyper-partisan ballots in my lifetime, probably your lifetime as well,” Agard told Isthmus at her campaign party at local bar Bierock Madison. “[I’m going to be] just putting my head down and working hard and continuing to do what I have done.”

Agard and Dana Pellebon, executive director of the Dane County Sexual Violence Resource Center, emerged from Tuesday’s primary election and will face off on Nov. 5. 

Pellebon will need to make a dent in Agard’s share of the votes. Her take on closing Agard’s lead?

“She has a sizable amount of money, so I'm gonna raise funds and be out there all the time,” Pellebon tells Isthmus.

With all precincts reporting, Agard was the runaway victor, taking home 61,283 votes (57%). Pellebon received 18,560 votes (17.2%). Madison Ald. Regina Vidaver and Wes Sparkman, director of Dane County’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, were eliminated, having earned 15.1% and 10.1% of the vote, respectively. 

Both Agard and Pellebon label themselves progressive candidates. 

Agard declared victory around 10 p.m. Tuesday night. “Tonight’s decisive victory highlights the broad, diverse coalition we have built in every community across Dane County," she said in a statement.

Pellebon, who represented a Fitchburg district on the Dane County Board from 2022 until this spring, says it’s “surreal and humbling” to see peoples’ faith in her campaign and that she has connected with voters on human services, the criminal legal system and cost of living.

The county executive oversees the county’s agencies and prepares its annual budget. Additionally, the executive presides over the county’s Board of Supervisors and can veto legislation. County executives are elected on a nonpartisan basis.

Agard or Pellebon, once elected, will lead Wisconsin’s fastest-growing county and the second most-populous county in the state, at 575,347 residents. Dane County enjoys an attractive research hub in UW-Madison and strong job growth, but experiences steep challenges in housing accessibility. The incoming county executive will also guide the county’s work on its jail consolidation and redeveloping the Alliant Energy Center.

Agard, who served on the Dane County board from 2010-2014 and in the state Legislature from 2012 onward, credits the success of her campaign to her team’s efforts and being a familiar face to voters after more than a decade-and-a-half of service.

“After all of that time, you know people and people know you, and that’s probably helpful,” Agard says. “But I think really it's about earnest, hard work.”

Agard benefited from endorsements by former Dane County executives Joe Parisi and Kathleen Falk, whose leadership she says she wants to build upon. Agard says after Parisi’s retirement — “a surprise to me” — she became increasingly excited about shifting from the state Legislature to join county government again. 

“The Legislature, it's a place where you plant seeds and you tend to them, and you step away,” Agard says. “There's gonna be other people that continue doing that work. So I'm confident the Legislature is gonna be in great shape.”

Whoever wins in November will spend six months in office before having to face another election in April 2025: the winner of that contest will serve a full four-year term. 

[Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect that Sen. Melissa Agard is currently a member of the state Legislature.]