Clockwise from top left: Noah Lieberman, Ellen Zhang, Nicki Vander Meulen, Blair Mosner Feltham, and Barbara Harrington-McKinney.
Victors clockwise from top left: Noah Lieberman, Ellen Zhang, Nicki Vander Meulen, Blair Mosner Feltham, and Barbara Harrington-McKinney.
The biggest change in store for Madison’s city council from the April 7 election: an unapologetically pro-development alder will take the 14th district seat held by the retiring Ald. Isadore Knox Jr., who was considered a “NIMBY” on housing issues.
“I think we are on pretty polar opposites there,” south-side Ald.-elect Noah Lieberman said of his predecessor Tuesday night. Lieberman beat chaplain Kate Blood with 54% of the vote. City council enthusiast Michael Zenz ranked Knox the second-most “NIMBY” on the council, just below Ald. Barbara Harrington-McKinney, in an analysis of all contested housing and development-related votes since 2023.
It is Lieberman’s third time running for the office — a bid against Knox in 2023 came down to a coin toss, and he also lost to him in 2024. Lieberman says he’s most excited to start tackling housing issues once he takes office.
Harrington-McKinney, as expected, retained her seat with a nearly 60% vote total despite a repeat challenge from candidate Islam Khilji. UW-Madison sophomore Ellen Zhang beat out democratic socialist candidate Bobby Gronert, who was backed by both the Young Democratic Socialists of America-Madison (YDSA) and DSA, with 80% of the vote.
Zhang, too, tells Isthmus she’s looking forward to tackling housing and development policy once she’s sworn in: “I am first and foremost concerned about affordable housing, about transit, accessibility and pedestrian safety, especially downtown.”
The new class of alders will take office in mid-April.
Both school board incumbents survived challenges Tuesday night. Nicki Vander Meulen, who has served on the board since 2017, beat Dana Colussi-Lynde, who ran on a platform focused around technology and AI policies for students. Vander Meulen, who won with 57% of the vote, was backed by Madison Teachers Inc.; Colussi-Lynde netted endorsements from Dane Dems and the Wisconsin State Journal.
And incumbent board member Blair Mosner Feltham, who was first elected in 2023, defeated UW-Madison researcher and challenger Daniella Molle with 62% of the vote.
