Moderates For City Council

We here at YSDA won’t be making candidate endorsements. But what we will do is provide our best sense of which candidates are more moderate when there’s a choice.

So, for those of you who live in Madison and are voting in competitive city council races this April, here is our take on candidates in each district who are closer to the center of Madison politics. (Keep in mind that the center of Madison politics is pretty far to the left of most any place else.)

For each candidate we’ve noted if they are an incumbent (I) or challenger (C) or if the seat is open (O) and whether they’ve been endorsed by the left-center Wisconsin State Journal (WSJ) or the hard-left Capital Times (CT). And you can watch candidate interviews and judge for yourself here.

The apparently more moderate candidate in each contested race is:

District 2 (near east side, Tenney-Lapham): Patrick Heck, (I), WSJ, CT.

District 3 (far east side): Lindsay Lemmer, (I), WSJ, CT.

District 8 (campus): Ayomi Obuseh, (I), WSJ.

District 9 (West Towne area): Paul Skidmore (I), WSJ.

District 10 (Midvale area): Mara Eisch (O), WSJ.

District 12 (near north side): Syed Abbas (I), WSJ, CT,

District 14 (south side): Sheri Carter (I), WSJ, CT.

District 16 (southeast side): Matt Tramel (O).

District 18 (north side): Charles Myadze (C), WSJ.

District 19 (west side adjacent to Middleton): Keith Furman (I), WSJ, CT.

District 20 (southwest side): Christian Albouras (I), WSJ, CT.

The close races in districts 9, 10, 14 and 18 seem especially crucial to the direction of the council.

In districts with no active races, the following alders will be elected or re-elected.

District 1: Barbara Harrington-McKinney (I)

District 4: Mike Verveer (I)

District 5: Regina Vidaver (O)

District 6: Brian Benford (O)

District 7: Nasra Wehele (I)

District 11: Arvina Martin (I)

District 13: Tag Evers (I) (his opponent is still on the ballot, but has ended his campaign)

District 15: Grant Foster (I)

District 17: Gary Halverson (O)

Of course, the important thing is to vote. If you won’t be casting an absentee ballot, the polls will be open all day on April 6th. To find out where to vote check here. In person early voting for all districts is open now at the City Clerk’s office in the City County Building.