In announcing her run for a third term, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway flagged climate change mitigation as one of her ongoing priorities. She emphasized the point on Thursday, gesturing to the smoke from wildfires in Minnesota and Canada outside the Tenney Park Pavilion. 

Rhodes-Conway says she is seeking reelection to continue working on the priorities she ran on when first elected in 2019 and again in 2023. They also include transportation, housing, and managing the city’s growth. 

Rhodes-Conway pledged to help build more housing and create pathways to homeownership; add a second bus rapid transit line and passenger rail service to Milwaukee; create safer streets; and support small businesses. The incumbent mayor described herself as a reliable leader poised to stand up to “continued pressure from the Trump Administration and continued attacks on local government.” 

But “above all,” Rhodes-Conway said, “we have to continue to acknowledge and address the challenges that Madison’s residents face, including the growing cost of living.” Surrounded by elected officials on the city council, Madison school board, and state Legislature, she added that she would work to reduce property taxes and fight for  “fair funding and local control” at the state Capitol and in Washington.  

After a decade and a half of divided state government, there could be new opportunities for whoever becomes mayor next spring. Rhodes-Conway is hoping for a Democratic “trifecta” — securing both houses of the  Legislature and holding on to the governorship, to add to the state’s already liberal Supreme Court — to help achieve some of her priorities. She said she is in conversation with mayors across Wisconsin on the “biggest collective priorities” in the event of a trifecta, and it’s been a team effort to have those conversations with state lawmakers as well. 

“We need to bring property tax relief to people in Madison, and I would hope that that would be a priority for people at the state level, regardless of party,” she said. The mayor has routinely castigated the Republican-led Legislature for Madison’s comparatively small slice of shared revenue (Madison ranks near the bottom per resident), and limited tools for raising revenue have presented challenges. A wheel tax she recommended to fund Bus Rapid Transit early in her term sparked a brief, failed campaign to recall her. In 2024 she led a campaign to pass a $22 million referendum; it passed with 56% of the vote. 

Still, Rhodes-Conway says her run is “not about politics,” and touted her experience and relationship-building at state and federal levels. She described herself as a stable leader, and the one “best-suited… to meet the challenges that Madison faces, and to take advantage of the opportunities."

 “There's a lot of political chaos, and I think having some stability in Madison is a real advantage,” she said in an interview after the news conference.    

If Rhodes-Conway is reelected and completes a third term, she would make history as the longest consecutively-serving mayor. Former Mayor Paul Soglin has her beat on years in office, serving 22 years across three stints — 1973-1979, 1989- 1997, and 2011-2019. (Madison’s mayoral terms were lengthened from two to four years in 1987.) She’s the second woman to represent the city, the only woman to be re-elected as mayor, and the first openly LGBTQ+ mayor.

This go-around, she’s also the first to announce. Rhodes-Conway tells Isthmus she decided to announce now because “a lot of people were asking what my plans were, and I felt like it was unfair, if there was any doubt that I was running or not, to not tell people.” The announcement came a day ahead of a fundraiser hosted by Pete Buttigieg.

In 2022, she announced in November, after her challenger Gloria Reyes had already declared a run. Rhodes-Conway won that race with 55% of the vote in April 2023. 

Who could challenge Rhodes-Conway this time? Numerous names have been whispered, but some options appear off the table. 

Downtown Madison Inc. President Jason Ilstrup tells Isthmus he’s not running in 2027 because he “truly loves the work” he’s doing at DMI, citing “transformative initiatives” like Envision Downtown. “I want to stay focused on helping move those efforts forward in partnership with the City of Madison,” he says. 

Francesca Hong, a Madison-area Rep and candidate for governor, gave a quick speech Thursday to endorse Rhodes-Conway. Hong told supporters Rhodes-Conway “shows up” and “holds herself accountable.” In May, the Hong campaign told Isthmus that she is “absolutely not considering a run for mayor at this time or at any point in the future.” 

City council president Sabrina Madison, among nine alders who showed up to lend their support Thursday, says she would have “quickly gotten into the race” for mayor had Rhodes-Conway not opted for a third term. She calls Rhodes-Conway a mentor and says the mayor listened to her priorities as a community leader before she was elected to the council. 

“I think people fail to realize that good leaders want someone… to learn from. Someone who will talk through things with them. Someone you can disagree with and still figure out how to get to the same end goal,” Madison tells Isthmus, citing Rhodes-Conway’s support for the Imagination Center in her own district as one example. “I really wanted her to run again, because it’s also [a] really great education for me.” 

Entrepreneur Scott Resnick tells Isthmus that he’s “not seriously considering” a run for mayor, and at the moment, is “prioritizing coaching my son’s Little League playoff team this weekend.”  Former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray did not return a request for comment.  Ald. Regina Vidaver, another rumored contender for mayor, tells Isthmus that she is  “100% behind Mayor Satya!” 

There’s plenty of time for challengers to emerge. The filing deadline for the 2027 spring election is Jan. 5, at 5 p.m. The spring primary is Feb. 16 and the general election is April 6.