Candidates advance from Madison, Wisconsin primary


The primary election in Madison, Wisconsin, was on Feb. 21, 2023. Candidates competed to advance to the general election scheduled for April 4. The filing deadline to run was on Jan. 3.

Candidates ran for Madison Common Council Districts 1-20. The primaries for districts 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 were canceled after fewer than three candidates filed for each election.

Candidates also ran for mayor of Madison. Incumbent Satya Rhodes-Conway, Scott Kerr, and Gloria Reyes ran in the nonpartisan primary, with Rhodes-Conway and Reyes advancing to the general election with 60% and 28.1% of the vote, respectively.

While most mayoral elections in the 100 largest cities are nonpartisan, most officeholders are affiliated with a political party. Madison has a Democratic mayor. As of February 2023, 62 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 26 are affiliated with the Republican Party, three are independents, seven identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors’ affiliations are unknown.

Madison is the second-largest city in Wisconsin and the 79th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

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