Satya Rhodes-Conway

Satya Rhodes-Conway (born 1971) is an American politician. She was a member of the Madison Common Council between 2007 and 2013. In 2019, Rhodes-Conway was elected Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. She is the first openly gay person elected to that office.

Satya Rhodes-Conway was born in 1971, in Española, New Mexico, and raised in Ithaca, New York. She attended Smith College to study biology and earned a master's degree in ecology from the University of California, Irvine. Rhodes-Conway moved to Madison, Wisconsin, around 2000. She worked as a senior associate with the University of Wisconsin's Center on Wisconsin Strategy, and served on several municipal committees, among them the Eken Park Neighborhood Association as treasurer, as chair of the Long Range Metro Transit Ad Hoc Planning Committee, and a subcommittee member of the Commission on the Environment. Rhodes-Conway became managing director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Mayor's Innovation Project in 2005.

Rhodes-Conway has been endorsed by the Progressive Dane party and the Democratic Party in bids for political office. She began campaigning for Brian Benford's open seat on the Madison Common Council in December 2006, and was one of nine new alders elected to the Madison Common Council in 2007. Rhodes-Conway announced in November 2012 that she would not run for reelection, and stepped down from the position upon the end of her third term in April 2013. She was succeeded in office by Larry Palm.

2019 mayoral campaign

Rhodes-Conway announced that she would run for the mayorship in May 2018. She and incumbent mayor Paul Soglin were the top two finishers in a primary held on February 19, 2019. The 2019 mayoral primary was Madison's most expensive, as six candidates raised a total of $453,365; $83,331 of that total was raised by Rhodes-Conway's campaign. Rhodes-Conway finished second, 323 votes behind Soglin, to advance to the general election.

During the primary, Rhodes-Conway's support came largely from the Isthmus and neighboring wards. Debates between Rhodes-Conway and Soglin covered a number of topics, including affordable housing, the municipal economy, public safety, and policing. Rhodes-Conway won support from Wisconsin State Assemblywoman Terese Berceau and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. She was subsequently endorsed by the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board, The Capital Times, and The Daily Cardinal. Throughout the campaign, Rhodes-Conway raised more money than Soglin, and spent more on expenditures. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele spent $47,000 on mailings supportive of Rhodes-Conway's mayoral bid, an amount described by the Wisconsin State Journal as "unusual, if not unprecedented," due to its origin outside of Dane County.

Rhodes-Conway defeated Soglin in the April 2, 2019 election, earning victory with over 61 percent of the vote. Voter turnout was approximately 36 percent. Rhodes-Conway's electoral victory was driven by large margins in the Isthmus, Near East Side, and West Side. She managed to flip wards in the Far East Side and West Side, parts of the city that previously voted for Soglin. In a ward near Capitol Square, Rhodes-Conway won by a 68.5-point margin. She is the second woman to be elected mayor of Madison and the first openly gay person elected to the office. Lori Lightfoot was elected Mayor of Chicago on the same day Rhodes-Conway won Madison's mayoral election. Former Mayor of Houston Annise Parker stated that both victories "leave us well-positioned to make 2019 the year of the lesbian mayor."

Mayoralty

Rhodes-Conway was inaugurated as mayor of Madison on April 16, 2019. On her first day as mayor, she held a joint press conference with Dane County Executive Joe Parisi to announce a maintenance and reconstruction agreement for Buckeye Road.

Satya Rhodes-Conway's mother, Anne Rhodes, is an artist. Her father, Bob Conway, is a manager of art collections. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and her mother subsequently came out as a lesbian. Satya Rhodes-Conway and Amy Klusmeier have been partners since 2009.