In November, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman filed a lawsuit seeking to toss Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in the clink for refusing to cooperate with his controversial probe into the 2020 presidential election. The investigation was ordered by Assembly Republicans in May and taxpayers are already on the hook for nearly $700,000.
Gableman has since backed off his attempt to jail Rhodes-Conway (and Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich). But before then, candidate Rhodes-Conway campaigned off the whole episode in a series of fundraising emails.
“Get this — [Gableman] wants to get the Waukesha Sheriff to TAKE ME TO JAIL to force me to ‘testify’ behind closed doors at a strip mall in Brookfield,” read a Dec. 2 campaign fundraising email from Rhodes-Conway. “They know that we did an excellent job here in Madison making it possible for every single eligible person to vote safely in the middle of a global pandemic. And that scares the hell out of them.”
On Dec. 28, Rhodes-Conway made a similar email appeal to supporters.
“This is about more than just raising funds — this is about sending a message that we will not be intimidated. That’s why it’s so important that we submit a strong finance report and prove that this team is ready for what the Republicans, Gableman, and others throw at us in 2022.”
According to the mayor’s latest campaign finance report submitted to the city in early January, she raised nearly $4,000 from July through December 2021. Rhodes-Conway is unlikely to face a Republican if she runs for re-election in April 2023 — not to mention local elections are nonpartisan. And wait a minute. Is the mayor even running for a second term?
Rhodes-Conway tells Isthmus it is far too early to announce her intentions for 2023.
“I’m focused on doing the job that the people elected me to do, which is to be mayor, and I definitely don’t want to take away from the spring or fall elections in 2022,” says Rhodes-Conway. “I think folks should be concentrating on those races. Because those are pretty important.” (There are school board and county supervisor seats on the ballot in April and races for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state Senate, and the state Assembly in November.)
The filing deadline for getting on the ballot for the mayoral election in April 2023 is Jan. 3, so it’s a bit early for potential candidates to throw their hat in the ring. But it is not unheard of for candidates to start campaigning the summer before an April election. Rhodes-Conway announced she was running for mayor on May 29, 2018. Ten months later, she bested incumbent mayor Paul Soglin by 24 points.
