Democratic socialist Isaia Ben-Ami launched his campaign for Wisconsin’s liberal 76th Assembly District in September 2025 after current representative Francesca Hong announced her bid for governor.
Democrats will likely keep their long-held grip on the seat in the liberal area. But Ben-Ami isn’t running uncontested in the primary in August. Four other progressives, including fellow democratic socialist Juliana Bennett and Madison Common Council member Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, are also campaigning for the seat. Just one Republican, Nina Chat, will be on the ballot in November.
In an interview with The Daily Cardinal, Ben-Ami discussed his bid for Madison’s east side seat, highlighting his plans for affordable housing and maintaining the city’s progressive politics.
Housing affordability
As former chief of staff, policy director and constituent services director for Assistant Minority Leader Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee, Ben-Ami was responsible for staffing Assembly Democrats on transportation and housing issues. He told the Cardinal his legislative experience prepared him for this role as a lawmaker and to “actually get policy moving.”
A member of both the Dane County Democratic Party and the Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America, Ben-Ami emphasized the broad support among Madison residents for progressive policies.
“There is real movement behind wanting new leadership and a new outlook for government, which gives us a wide berth of opportunity to actually be able to go for progressive policies that are going to really make a difference in people's lives,” Ben-Ami said.
His campaign largely focuses on housing issues, falling in line with his experience working on the Housing and Real Estate Committee in the State Assembly.
“I remember being a student and dealing with landlords who did not always care about the environment that they were supposed to be in charge of taking care of, and they understand that students don't have money for legal representation,” Ben-Ami said. ”We as a state need to be doing as best of an effort as we can to protect tenants and ensure that they have their rights protected.”
Madison’s building spree of unaffordable high-rise apartments under corporate management only further complicates the issue, Ben-Ami said.
“How much are we relying on a trickle-down effect of rental units to make housing affordable? I've seen that model of economics not really work across the spectrum for the past 40 years,” Ben-Ami said.
With the city metro facing a nearly $6 million budget deficit, Ben-Ami said Madison also doesn’t have a transportation system to sustain a burgeoning population.
Ben-Ami hopes progressive policies in Madison serves as example across the state
Ben-Ami said Madison has a long-standing reputation of being Wisconsin’s most politically progressive city, with recent figures like Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge-Elect Chris Taylor, Dane County Executive Melissa Agard and Hong, acting as “the tip of the spear for progressive politics.”
He said he hopes to join this cohort of progressive politicians and his policies will serve as an example to Democrats in other parts of the state.
“We do have real tangible impacts on progressive politics outside of the city borders.” Ben-Ami said.
He also stressed the importance of bolstering Wisconsin’s democratic caucus across the state.
“In this seat where you know it'll be a Democrat no matter what, you need to ensure that that is a Democrat who's willing to fight for Democrats running in Dodgeville and Sheboygan and everywhere else across the state where, in order for this seat to actually have meaning, you have to have a political majority that you're able to work with,” Ben-Ami said.
Gerrymandering has been a longstanding issue for Wisconsin Democrats, with state legislative maps heavily favoring Republicans for 15 years before Governor Tony Evers drew his own maps in February 2024. Wisconsin congressional and legislative district lines are redrawn every ten years following a national census. Even with Evers’ reformed state maps, the congressional map still favors Wisconsin Republicans, who hold a 6-2 majority.
Ben-Ami emphasized gerrymandering as a key issue in the near future.
“We’re going to end up in another situation in 2030, no matter what. So I think there is definitely a concern for how we are going to handle representation in the statehouse going forward, especially after we were the pet project in 2011, 2012, [when] we did redistrict after that census.”
Progressive Democrats across the country, like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hong, face opposition for what Republicans and moderate Democrats say are socialist policies on affordability. Ben-Ami said this rhetoric strays away from the real issues residents face.
“In the times that I've knocked doors, I've talked to plenty of Republicans, plenty of people who I think are generally more conservative than I am. And generally, their top issues are really focused on a culture war that I think has been astro-turfed for them to really take the lowest hanging fruit of politics and try to avoid the big questions of ‘Why are my grocery prices so high? Why is gas so expensive? Why is it so hard to continue to afford my property taxes?’” Ben-Ami said.
He said he wants to move from the hostility surrounding the socialist label and instead focus on bringing residents together to fix key issues.
“It's really about pivoting to those larger messages, and there's a lot more agreement and a lot less wariness of a socialist label,” Ben-Ami said. “That message tends to resonate, and I think it'll resonate not just in the conservative voters that exist here in Madison, but the conservative voters that are entirely out of state.”
Ben-Ami characterized his general message to voters as one devoted to fighting for the freedoms of working people.
“That’s the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, the freedom to afford your healthcare, the freedom to live in dignified housing, the freedom to really just enjoy life in our state.” Ben-Ami said. “That, to me, is something that is non-partisan and is a message that transcends various lines of political thought.”
The primary election will take place on Aug. 11, 2026. For more information on how you can vote in the upcoming primary and general elections, visit https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting.
