Isadore Knox Jr. and Noah Lieberman advance to the District 14 general election.
In District 14, on Madison’s south side, former Ald. Isadore Knox, left, will face Noah Lieberman, who eked out a second-place finish with just seven votes to spare.
Of Madison’s 14 contested city council races, seven featured a primary on Tuesday night to determine which two candidates would advance to the April 4 general election. In contrast to Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s comfortable lead over the second-place finisher, Gloria Reyes, in the mayoral primary, the council races offered a bit of drama. In some districts, council veterans faced off against each other. Others featured a field entirely of newcomers. And in two races, fewer than 10 votes decided the margin of victory.
In District 14, on Madison’s south side, just seven votes determined which candidate would advance. Noah Lieberman tallied 484 votes to Katherine Pedracine’s 477 to eke out a second- place finish. Lieberman, who finished with about 29 percent of the vote, will advance to face Isadore Knox Jr., a former council member who served from 2004-06, and finished with about 40 percent of the vote.
District 9, on Madison’s west side near Middleton, also featured a handful of former council members squaring off. Incumbent Nikki Conklin finished with about 49 percent of the vote, and Nino Amato advanced with 28 percent. Paul Skidmore was eliminated with about 22 percent. Amato previously served a term on the council as a graduate student in the 1970s and Skidmore served from 2001-21. The same three candidates faced off in 2021, with Conklin and Skidmore advancing out of the primary and Conklin prevailing in the general election.
The race in District 12, on the north and east sides, was the most crowded of any in the city, with five candidates declaring after Ald. Syed Abbas stepped down in December. None of the five have previously held elected office. Julia Matthews finished first with 34 percent of the vote and Amani Latimer Burris also advanced with 31 percent.
Julia Matthews: James Kreul / Amani Latimer Burris: Sofi Torri
Julia Matthews and Amani Latimer Burris advance to the District 12 general election.
Julia Matthews, left, and Amani Latimer Burris, emerged the top two vote-getters in the crowded primary in District 12, on Madison's north and east sides.
District 20, which includes the area around Elver Park on the west side, should also feature a close general election. Matt Phair — who served the district from 2011 to 2019 and was appointed to fill the alder vacancy in June — and Barbara Harrington-McKinney, who has served as alder for District 1 since 2015 but had to run in District 20 due to redistricting, each tallied about 40 percent of the primary vote. In fact, only five votes separated their totals — 1,106 for Phair and 1,101 for Harrington-McKinney.
Juliana Bennett, who was redistricted out of District 8, which she has represented since 2021, posted the largest margin of victory of the night, garnering more than 70 percent of the vote in District 2, which covers the area between Capitol Square and Lake Mendota. Colin Barushok will also advance with 22 percent of the vote. Bennett’s margin outpaced even that of Janet Protasiewicz, the Supreme Court candidate that dominated the voting in Madison. Protasiewicz finished with about 66 percent of the vote in District 2.
In District 10, on Madison’s south and west sides, two-year incumbent Yannette Figueroa Cole finished with about 37 percent of the vote. Sheri Carter, who has represented District 14 since 2015 but was redistricted into District 10 for this election, bested Figueroa Cole with about 53 percent.
The District 3 race on Madison’s east side featured another field of newcomers. Derek Field finished first with 43 percent. Matt Van Eperen will also advance with 31.5 percent, and Stephanie Salas will be eliminated with 24 percent.
The council’s most senior member, Mike Verveer, won his primary in downtown’s District 4 with 54 percent of the vote. Maxwell Laubenstein will also advance with 26 percent. This was the first time that Verveer has faced a contested race since 1999.
