Maureen Janson Heintz
Dana Pellebon
The race for Dane County executive in 2024 will be the most competitive in more than a decade.
Dana Pellebon, a Dane County supervisor and executive director of the RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center, is “carefully considering” a run for Dane County executive, telling Isthmus she “will be making an announcement about that decision early next year.”
County Executive Joe Parisi announced in October that he would retire this spring, a year before his term ends. Madison Ald. Regina Vidaver and State Sen. Melissa Agard have already declared they are running for the seat; the general election is Nov. 5, 2024.
Pellebon, a longtime community activist and a former director of housing and operations for Porchlight, which provides services to people who are homeless, is also active in the local arts scene. She says she has already decided not to run again for her county board seat. If elected, Pellebon would be Dane County’s first Black county executive.
Pellebon argues that the county executive should be focused on management and leadership, not politics.
“The first thing I think that the county needs is a natural executive,” she says. “I don’t believe this is a political position — this position is meant to manage the most important parts of our county. We need someone apt and adept at managing people and projects and programs and budgets.”
Pellebon says one of the most challenging issues facing the county is how to fund a new jail to replace the facility in the City-County Building that Sheriff Kalvin Barrett has called “unsafe and inhumane.” The most recent round of bidding for the jail attracted just one interested party and the bid was $27 million over budget.
“There are a lot of us that are concertedly talking and thinking about what the options are,” she says. Whatever happens regarding a new jail, Pellebon says a broader solution will still be necessary. “Incarceration is not a panacea,” she says. “I can’t imagine anyone on our board saying we want to jail people. So how do we create a community where it is not necessary?” She says the county will need to address “disparities that are root causes of incarceration.”
Pellebon says the county is also going to have to figure out how to deal in 2024 with the loss of federal money that boosted local governments during the pandemic. American Rescue Plan Act funding added more than $100 million to Dane County’s coffers since 2021.
Since Parisi beat out a six-candidate field in 2011 to become executive after Kathleen Falk announced in 2010 she would step down midway through her fourth term, most elections for the post have been uncontested. In 2021 Parisi won by 58 points against Mary Ann Nicholson.
Next year’s race could look more like 2011, when five candidates each took home more than 10% of the vote in the primary before Parisi consolidated the liberal vote against conservative Eileen Bruskewitz, winning handily in the general election.
Vidaver was the first to declare, just weeks after Parisi announced his retirement. “My record of leadership in public health, local government, the nonprofit sector, and academia make me an ideal candidate to lead Dane County into a brighter future,” Vidaver said in an Oct. 24 news release.
Agard, a former Dane County supervisor and state Senate minority leader, praised Parisi and former executive Kathleen Falk in her Nov. 30 campaign announcement. “I’m running to build on their progress and create a forward-thinking county government ready for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Dane County can be a national example of a community with authentic progressive values — where everyone is welcome and has access to the quality of life services they need to thrive,” said Agard, who is not running again for state Senate.
State Sen. Dianne Hesselbein was elected by her Democratic colleagues to replace Agard as state Senate minority leader and Supv. Melissa Ratcliff has announced she is running for Agard’s seat.
When Parisi steps down as county executive in May, the board chair will appoint an interim executive. Current board chair Patrick Miles is facing a challenge from Ed Wreh, a McFarland Village Board trustee, in the April election.
With races for president and U.S. Senate on the November ballot, turnout is expected to be dramatically higher than it would be in the spring 2025 election that would have determined the next executive without Parisi’s early retirement. In Dane County, 89% of registered voters turned out in the last presidential election in 2020, while just 22.5% turned out for spring 2022’s local elections.
Since this will technically be a special election for the county executive seat, the winner will need to run again in spring 2025.
