Legislature Debate 2020 (copy)

The Cap Times is hosting legislative primary debates for each of four open Dane County seats. 

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Seven Democrats vying to succeed retiring longtime Madison state Sen. Fred Risser are preparing to debate in a Cap Times forum on July 29. 

While the seat is just one of four open Dane County legislative ones this cycle, the 26th Senate District is different: it's the only one that won't see a contested general election in November. 

With no Republican or independent candidates in the running to replace Risser — the longest serving lawmaker in Wisconsin and the nation — whichever Democratic candidate emerges from the Aug. 11 primary will all but certainly be sworn in next January as the seat's next state senator. The district covers an area stretching from the isthmus to the west side of Madison. 

Those candidates are: former Madison Ald. Brian Benford, now a success coach for the UW-Madison Odyssey Program; William Davis III, a 2018 write-in candidate for lieutenant governor; recent UW-Madison graduate Nada Elmikashfi, who worked with NextGen America in the 2018 midterms and briefly for then-Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling and Gov. Tony Evers; Wisconsin Environmental Initiative head John Imes, who unsuccessfully ran for state Assembly in 2018; Amani Latimer Burris, a small business owner and the daughter of the late, celebrated community leader Milele Chikasa Anana; recent UW-Madison graduate Aisha Moe, who served as a 2016 fellow and 2018 field organizer with the Wisconsin Democratic Party; and former state lawmaker and unsuccessful 2018 gubernatorial candidate Kelda Roys. 

Cap Times political reporter Briana Reilly will moderate the forum, which will take place on Zoom and will be livestreamed on the Cap Times' Facebook page. Cap Times members will have the option of watching directly via Zoom. The debate starts at 7 p.m.

Some of those who live in the 26th Senate District will also have the opportunity to choose a new state lawmaker to represent them in the 76th Assembly District. Democratic contenders for that seat went head-to-head in a Cap Times debate on July 22. 

The Cap Times has also hosted Democratic primary forums for the two other open Dane County legislative seats: one in the 48th Assembly District in east and north Madison and another in the 16th Senate District, which includes much of east and north Madison, along with Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, Monona, McFarland and Stoughton. 

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This article originally ran on madison.com.

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