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Posted on 10/24/2026 7:45:40 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. -- On Friday, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced she would end her bid for reelection over threats and harassment.
"The price of being in public office has gotten too high," Mayor Rhodes-Conway said in a TV-exclusive interview with News 3 Now's political reporter and "For the Record" host Elly Laliberte.
The news broke amid rising threats against mayors, common council members, and other local officials around the country.
In a report from the Brennan Center for Justice published in 2024, more than 18% of local officeholders said they experienced threats or attacks in the 18 months prior to being surveyed. That rate was 52% when it came to less severe forms of abuse, like insults or harassment such as stalking.
"Local leaders often have fewer protective services than state or national leaders," said Nathan Kalmoe, who leads the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal at UW-Madison.
Kalmoe's work focuses on public opinion and political behavior, including political violence.
In explaining her decision not to seek reelection, the mayor said she thinks about her physical safety on a daily basis.
Threats and harassment against officials isn't new. The mayor's announcement came shortly after members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation received suspicious mail.
The announcement also came on the heels of calls from the Wisconsin Supreme Court for $3 million to make courthouses safer after there were 129 reports of security threats to circuit court judges in 2025.
Chief Justice Jill Karofsky has said that threats to the judicial system have increased.
Data shows that larger shares of women and elected officials of color report experiencing abuse.
"The reality is that threats against officials are more likely to target people who are already underrepresented in government," Kalmoe said.
The Brennan Center for Justice report also showed more than two fifths of local officeholders said they're less willing to run for reelection or higher office because of abuse. For women, that rate was approximately 50%.
Mayor Rhodes-Conway referenced the challenges posed specifically for local officials of color and women who hold office in her statement.
"These negative impacts are especially pronounced for women officials, minority officials, and new officeholders," the mayor said.
Kalmoe said an unsafe environment for elected officials worsens outcomes for their constituents.
"If politics feels so toxic, especially if it feels unsafe, it's going to make people less likely to want to participate in it. And that just makes the whole system less responsive to the people's needs," Kalmoe said.
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Socialist Democrats run cities into the ground, allowing rampant crime and fomenting wide CANYONS of division between the 'Haves' and the 'Have Nots' in the name of 'democracy' or they do it 'for the children.'
And then when they themselves are bitten by the BEAST of their OWN CREATION, they turn tail and run?
Have I got that right? *SMIRK*
Given the breadth and scope of the political spectrum in Madison, Wisconsin, it is most likely the Maoist Communists who are making these threats against the ruling Leninist Socialists.
The comment about women and minorities is supposed to make the reader assume it is the far right perpetrating all this hate.
I didn’t know that Madison had a Governor-Council form of government.
There have been at least 5 "Occupy" protests in Madison WI over the last 15 years, so radical leftists taking over downtown Madison have become a regular occurrence. The most recent was August of this year, when ANTIFA and other state-supported ideologues created an "autonomous zone" in downtown Madison after the shooting of homeless man who threatened police with a knife
I don't doubt that her present unhappiness arises from this
Of course, this leftist ideologue mayor is a standard "AWFUL," anti-police, progressive and Green Party member. She issued the same kind of radical statements demanding "justice" for Cory Ruiz etc..
To her credit, after two weeks of chaos in Madison, she started to request, then demand, protestors to end the encampment. No doubt the leftist animals she once considered her pets started to turn on her.
I live in Nevada, and this announcement smells so bad I can pick it up here. In politics, there are a lot of false covers; the most common of which is “...in order to spend more time with my family,” but this is really suspicious. I follow Madison politics and news relatively closely, and I haven’t seen any reports of security threats to the Mayor. This is a cover; the only question is: what is the real reason?
The Hard Left Mayor, of Hard Left Madison, WI, will not run for reelection, because she is being threatened, by the Radical Left, in Madison, WI?
LOL!
They literally had a “women and minorities hardest hit” in the article.
🙄
“No doubt the leftist animals she once considered her pets started to turn on her.”
That is exactly what happened. You could hear the ‘shock and awe’ when ‘Her Honor’ actually DID something to quell her own electorate, LOL!
See any of my posts from August titled, ‘Madison Under Siege.’
But, never fear! ‘The People’s Republic of Madistan’ will elect someone even worse to govern them. *Rolleyes*
“Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is not a sound basis for a system of government, because supreme power should come from a mandate from the people, not a ridiculous aquatic ceremony.”
Anything goes in Madistan, LOL!
“This is a cover; the only question is: what is the real reason?”
As always, where Socialists are concerned, I’d follow the money. The MISSING money...
“This is a cover; the only question is: what is the real reason?”
As always, where Socialists are concerned, I’d follow the money. The MISSING money...
DEATH TO AMERICA! - vote Democrat Socialist.
Just part of their agenda, doncha know.
Who was it that said...’If you are young and you’re not a socialist, then you have no heart. If you are older and still a socialist, you have no brain!’ ??
“The price of being in public office has gotten too high,”
Translation: the feds are on to me.
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