MADISON — Madison’s mayor has announced she will not seek re-election due to threats and harassment she’s received in office.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has served as the city’s leader since April 2019, almost 7 and a half years.
In a statement released Friday, she announced she will not seek re-election as she originally planned, due to the unexpected “level of threats to myself and my family.”
She also stated she faced “implicit and explicit sexism.”
“How can any leader govern responsibly when personal attacks and baseless conspiracies carry more weight than facts? How can any Mayor be effective when a difference of opinion is cast as unforgivable betrayal that justifies threats of violence?,” writes Rhodes-Conway.
She initially announced her plan to run for reelection in mid-July, before a Madison police officer shot and killed Corey Ruiz. The mayor received an increase in backlash after an encampment erected at the site of the shooting was cleared out.
Rhodes-Conway wrote that she is proud of the work her administration accomplished, including implementing bus rapid transit, reducing traffic crashes, investing in street safety and housing, launching the CARES program, and increasing renewable energy use.
