Former City of Madison District 2 and 8 Alder and democratic socialist Juliana Bennett announced her campaign on a platform of affordable housing and increasing the minimum wage for the 76th state assembly district, which covers much of Madison’s downtown and isthmus, Sept. 30.
Bennett aims to fill the deep blue seat left open by Rep. Francesca Hong’s run for governor. Her platform advocates for affordable housing, a $23 minimum wage by 2030, no-cost child and health care and full funding for the Wisconsin public schooling system.
Bennett served on the Madison Common Council for two terms from April 2021 to April 2025.
She joins an open Democratic primary where the party has had an unbroken hold on the 76th assembly district seat since 2013. She’s competing against a current Common Council member vying for the seat— Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford.
While her political experience has shaped her understanding of government, Bennett’s personal experiences have played an equally significant role in motivating her to serve. Bennett’s advocacy for cheaper medical care started with medical debt her family experienced as she finished her degree in 2022 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Her father had fallen into cardiac arrest with a 6% chance of survival, it was made clear that it would take a miracle for Bennett's father to pull through. Thankfully, through the tireless efforts of medical staff, he did. However, while her father may have won a large battle with his health, there existed another battle entirely: the medical bill.
With the costs totaling some $500,000 and an eviction looming on the horizon, Bennett saw firsthand the significant impact the state’s laws had on the well-being of its people.
The experience not only motivated her to become an alder twice and pass local ordinances that aligned with her goals in Madison, but also inspired her to announce her current campaign for state assembly, where Bennett could extend her influence throughout Wisconsin.
“I really saw the personal impact of how our state laws are really prohibitive on the general public, and there's only so much you can do as an alder when the state has hamstrung every single thing that we could do to help people,” Bennett told The Daily Cardinal.
Bennett said students could be one of the largest populations to benefit from her policies, as she aims to improve the financial and housing prospects of being a college student in Wisconsin, especially at UW-Madison.
Fully funding the Wisconsin public education system ultimately depends on how dollars are earned and allocated within the state assembly. To increase earnings, Bennett believes in revisiting previous avenues, such as taxing income rather than just property taxes. Other areas of investment, such as spending on incarceration, could also be significantly reduced to reinvest in public schools.
Bennett is also in support of the Wisconsin Tuition Promise, a ‘last dollar’ tuition program the University of Wisconsin System instituted in 2023, paused and reinstituted in 2025 that covers any remaining costs of attendance for those whose families earn under the median Wisconsin income.
In the interest of covering remaining fees following students' financial aid, Bennett said the ‘last dollar’ program would minimize students’ need to take out loans they cannot afford, while encouraging Wisconsin resident enrollment in higher education.
Bennett also acknowledged the current housing crisis UW-Madison students experience.
She plans to combat the issue by supporting UW-Madison’s request for funding to construct additional residence halls, which would ideally decrease the cost of living for students. “Yes, [it would be] a few million dollars, but that in comparison is a drop in the bucket… to other priorities or issue areas,” Bennett said.
For those living off campus, or simply non-students residing in Madison, Bennett has continually advocated for cooperative housing and a tenant bill of rights.
Her proposal would include granting greater negotiating power to tenants, preventing properties under the affordability requirement from expiring, conducting routine annual inspections to maintain health standards and requiring landlords to have reasonable grounds for evictions.
While Bennett believes these solutions would be effective in managing the housing crisis in Madison, she acknowledges the need to address the root of the issue.
“But truly, when the rubber hits the road, it's about creating affordability across the city and across the state. We just need to build more homes. Wisconsin is in a shortage of 200,000 affordable homes, and we currently don't have a plan to get there.”
However, Bennett foresees an obstacle. She criticized Democrats, saying her own party lacks a clear consensus on issues relating to equal rights for women, transgender people and people of color.
“I think that we need to have real come-to-Jesus moments within our party, and from the things that I'm hearing from residents and students and young people in Madison, it’s that we're tired of our elected leaders kind of selling us out,” Bennett said. “I think that there is a real issue of where our leaders, in the aura of trying to compromise, have become compromised themselves.”
Reflecting on her time as a student activist at UW-Madison and her involvement in student government through the Associated Students of Madison, Bennett said her student experience shaped her desire to become the change she wanted to see in her party.
This is why Bennett wants to reinstate the right to shared governance. ASM does not possess nearly as much power as it once did, Bennett explained, with much of its previous power having been relegated to the chancellor.
Bennett said her journey from student activist to city alder to state assembly candidate underscores a commitment to turning personal struggle into public action.
“You deserve a representative who has been in your shoes and fought for your needs. I will be that representative,” she said.
Party primary election will take place on Aug. 11, with the Democratic candidate likely to win the seat on Nov. 3, 2026 in the heavily-Democratic district. For more information on how you can vote in the upcoming primary and general elections, visit https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting.
