Democratic candidates Chuck Erickson and Renuka Mayadev announced their campaigns for Wisconsin’s 77th Assembly District earlier this month.
The 77th district encompasses the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and Shorewood Hills as well as some Madison neighborhoods around Lake Wingra.
Erickson has served for 22 years on the Dane County Board and is a current resident of the Monona Bay neighborhood. Mayadev is currently a program advisor for maternal and child health at UW-Madison and is a graduate from Georgetown University Law School.
“As a lifelong resident of Dane County and Wisconsin, I look forward to our State government reflecting the values of the citizens of Wisconsin,” Erikson said in a March 7 statement. “Growing up in Dane County, I could depend on a quality public education, clean water and air, and available healthcare.”
During his tenure as a Dane County Board supervisor, Erickson led initiatives to recognize domestic partnerships and same-sex marriage, according to a press release. Erickson also said he is a proud supporter of affordable housing and equal voting rights.
“As a gay child growing up in a small town, I understand what it means to be different and experience rejection based simply on who I was,” Erickson said.
Erickson said he plans to center his campaign efforts around reproductive and transgender healthcare access, increasing funds for early childhood care and education and restoring collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin’s public workers.
Erickson previously held committee leadership positions on the Dane County Board ranging from chair of the Alliant Energy Center Redevelopment Committee to vice chair of the Personnel and Finance Committee.
Mayadev spotlights women’s rights in campaign
Mayadev described herself as an advocate for reproductive rights and as passionate about the well-being of all Wisconsin’s children and families, according to the Wisconsin Law Journal.
Mayadev worked with the Wisconsin Partnership Program as a maternal and child health advisor to allocate $2 million in grant funding to improve the health of Black mothers and infants as well as to provide women with community-based models of care, according to UW-Madison.
“Our democracy and basic fundamental rights are at risk, especially those of Wisconsin’s women and children,” Mayadev said in a March 13 statement. “For the first time in many years, Democrats have a genuine opportunity to build a majority and pass laws that will protect our democracy, women’s reproductive rights, and the basic rights of every child to a better future.”
The primary election for the 77th Assembly District will take place on August 13, 2024.
Editor's note: this article was updated at 3:06 p.m. on Friday, April 5, 2024.
