
Incumbent Alds. Rebecca Kemble and Paul Skidmore both lost to challengers in the April 6 election.
The city council’s staunchest backer of the police was defeated in the April 6 election. So was one of the city’s most progressive reformers.
Political newcomer Nikki Conklin ousted 10-term incumbent Paul Skidmore with 56 percent of the vote in a contentious and expensive race on the city’s far west side. Skidmore was strongly backed by the Madison police union which in a February press release called him “the undisputed leader” on the council for “working to meet the needs of public safety in Madison.” Skidmore leaned hard into a pro-police message in his campaign literature; one piece features a quote from former Madison police Chief Mike Koval — “Defunding the Police Plans are putting you and me in danger” — and a photo of a mother and child huddled on the floor while a man with a gun looks over them.
Skidmore was also one of three incumbents named in billboards put up by the anonymous group Community for Responsible Government. The billboard thanked Skidmore for “trying to keep the city safe.”
The veteran alder was also heavily backed by real estate professionals, including by A Better Dane County, whose sole donor was the National Association of Realtors Funds. The group sent out mailers in four aldermanic races. Skidmore was also endorsed by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, which raised $1,650 from its members for his reelection campaign.
Though “obviously” outspent by Skidmore and his allies, Conklin says she is thankful to her supporters who, with largely small donation amounts, gave $15,000 to her campaign.
“People wanted change, and change they will get,” Conklin tells Isthmus. “I'm ready to get to work. I will fight for quality affordable housing, equity and justice and safety for all…. I look forward to sinking my feet in and getting to work on these issues.”
This fall, Skidmore was accused of calling a community activist a “cunt” during a virtual council meeting — a charge he repeatedly denied. The council approved $10,000 to conduct an independent forensic investigation of the incident but the results, released in February, could not determine who uttered the vulgarity. The investigation report didn’t rule Skidmore out as the possible source, but concluded that whoever said the word was “likely” wearing a headset microphone. Skidmore wasn’t using a headset during the meeting.

@Zorknogg from Twitter
A campaign mailer sent to voters by Ald. Paul Skidmore during the spring election.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Tuesday night was challenger Charles Myadze’s victory over three-term incumbent Rebecca Kemble on the north side. Myadze, too, proudly touted his support from law enforcement. Recently retired Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney was a prominent surrogate. Myadze attacked Kemble for coming in last in the Madison police union’s ranking of incumbent alders and for opposing aid to State Street businesses during a contentious vote this summer. Myadze received support from the real estate group, A Better Dane County, and the Community for Responsible Government put up a supportive billboard in the district.
A mailer was also sent out by the South Central Federation of Labor that lauded Myadze on one side and state school superintendent candidate Jill Underly on the other. Underly, backed by Democrats, won solidly statewide with 58 percent of the vote. Dane County supported her by a 60-point margin.
Myadze thanked Kemble for being gracious when she called to congratulate him.
“The people of District 18 have spoken and they voted for new, positive, common sense leadership,” Myadze wrote on Facebook after the returns were in. “It is hard to believe a union worker, the son of an immigrant, a single father of three is now also a member of Madison’s city council.”
Kemble’s outspoken leadership on several progressive issues may have pushed the limits with her constituents, which by Madison standards lean more moderate. During the campaign, Kemble shared a message with Isthmus she received from one of her constituents urging her to focus more on icy streets and less on systematic issues of inequity. It read, “More salt, less justice.”
Ald. Sheri Carter was elected to a fourth term with 65 percent of the vote over challenger Brandi Grayson, the CEO of Urban Triage and a well-known local activist. Carter also received ample support from pro-business groups A Better Dane County and the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. Grayson mounted a vigorous campaign raising and spending more than $13,500, according to the latest campaign finance reports. That’s more than any other challenger running for council this spring.
Grayson had some missteps that may have cost her. She sought, received and then shunned an endorsement from Progressive Dane. The political party shares many of her policy positions, including the need to invest more in city services other than the police department. But in January she called the political party “dangerous.” Grayson also strayed far from local issues, drawing criticism from Indigenous people for calling them “red” and claiming that Black people were “the original inhabitants of the land known as America.”
After the results came in, Grayson said her southside district “voted for anti BLACKNESS.”
“It wasn’t just [white] people, it was Black people. Lots of Black people. Elders. Church folks. Conservatives. Moderates. And others who just didn’t vote,” Grayson wrote on Facebook on election night. “It was CONFIRMATION that Madison will kill me and allow the mayor and the same alders to show up to give condolences.”
Carter, who is also Black, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two young candidates of color competed to represent the council’s open campus seat currently held by outgoing Ald. Max Prestigiacomo, a vocal police abolitionist. Juliana Bennett beat Ayomi Obuseh with 66 percent of the vote in what turned out to be a low-turnout election. The race took a nasty turn in the final weeks of the campaign. In a March 31 press release, Bennett wrote that Obuseh had accused her of “lying about being a survivor of sexual assault” on social media. Obuseh apologized for her comment but denied she was referring to Bennett.
Patrick Heck, who represents neighborhoods on the isthmus, defeated Benji Ramirez Gomez by 24 points. Ramirez Gomez won the district’s three downtown wards, but Heck cleaned up in the two Tenney-Lapham wards which had far higher turnout.
West-side Ald. Keith Furman was reelected with 64 percent of the vote for a second term over Aisha Moe. The three other incumbents running for reelection to the council won by huge margins. Alds. Christian Albouras, Lindsay Lemmer and Syed Abbas all sailed to reelection with more than 75 percent of the vote.
In open seats on the city’s west side and southeast side, Yannette Figueroa Cole defeated Mara Eisch to replace outgoing Ald. Zach Henak and Jael Currie beat Matt Tramel to replace outgoing Ald. Mike Tierney, respectively.
Regina Vidaver, Gary Halverson and Brian Benford will also join the council later this month. All ran unopposed for open seats, as did Nasra Wehelie, who was appointed in November to fill the vacancy in District 7. Incumbents Alds. Barbara Harrington-McKinney, Mike Verveer, Arvina Martin, Tag Evers and Grant Foster also ran uncontested and will serve another two-year term.
In an advisory referendum, Madison voters largely rejected changes to how the city council is structured. Fifty eight percent of voters opposed a full-time council; 70 percent want the council to remain a body of 20 alders; and 56 percent advised against increasing the current two-year terms to four years.
Voters did overwhelmingly support term limits for alders, with more than 70 percent of voters backing a cap of 12 consecutive years. A study on term limits in state legislatures found little evidence that they result in lawmakers being more attuned to constituents. But term limits remain a popular idea in all levels of government with support across the political spectrum.
And oh damn, there were some Dane County and school board races, too. County Executive Joe Parisi trounced opponent Mary Ann Nicholson with 79 percent of the vote. In special elections for the county board to represent Madison, former Ald. Larry Palm defeated Amani Latimer Burris by eight points; Cecely Castillo ran unopposed and will be the first Latina to serve on the board. Savion Castro and Maia Pearson ran unopposed for seats on the Madison school board. Overall, turnout of registered voters wasn’t terrible at 30.6 percent countywide.
[Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect that Nasra Wehelie was already on the city council, appointed in November to the vacant seat in District 7 when Donna Moreland resigned to join the Evers Administration.]