Former Dane County Board Supervisor April Kigeya officially launched her campaign for mayor of Madison as she strives to make a city for all residents.
On Sept. 10, Kigeya announced her campaign for mayor and held a launch event at Hayes Place, 1145 N. Sherman Ave. She is among the candidates challenging incumbent Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, who is seeking a third term. Other candidates include former Alders Syed Abbas and Brian Benford, as well as One City Schools founder Kaleem Caire.
Kigeya used the campaign launch as a community mixer, giving attendees an opportunity to get to know one another. She described herself as a “relationship builder” who works to bring people together.
“I didn’t want a traditional press conference … I wanted this to be a space where you could meet people that you wouldn’t have otherwise met,” Kigeya said. “I mean, you’re probably standing next to someone right now that you probably don’t even know.”
Her approach to the campaign launch is emblematic of her priorities for her potential mayoralship. On her campaign website, Kigeya lists seven priorities, with the very first being a community-led government.
The first tenet of her priorities — community-led government — states that the “people closest to a problem should have a meaningful role in solving it.” Kigeya aims to have a more transparent process in decisions that involves community input.
“I’ve seen what Madison can do, and I’ve also seen the work that we still have to do,” Kigeya said. “I also believe that the people most impacted by the problems are the ones who can come up with the solutions.”
Kigeya’s intended process for a more community-led government involves neighborhood advisory councils with meaningful influence, participatory budgeting that gives residents a direct voice, a regular listening session with the mayor and public action reports to show what happened after engagement, her campaign site states.
Her second priority is “Safe Communities,” which includes fully staffing police, fire and EMS departments; strengthening crisis response and mental health co-response; investing in violence prevention and youth mentorship; and building neighborhood partnerships.
Her third priority is increasing investment, training and partnerships for mental health services and response. Fourth is attainable housing, which Kigeya stressed is not the same as “affordable housing.”
“Affordability, that’s a label,” Kigeya said. “What’s affordable to me may not be affordable to you. I feel like we need to look at attainable housing across all income levels, across all seniors, because there are people that are in their house right now that may not be able to stay in their house, whether it’s based on property taxes going up, whether it’s based on their next paycheck might look different, and that’s going to change.”
Kigeya took a jab at the metric of affordable housing in Madison. The city measures success in affordable housing based on how many are built, then pats itself on its back without much reflection on whether it meets the overall needs of residents, Kigeya said.
While she does not have an alternative measure right now, Kigeya is set on finding a new metric. Her campaign site lists that the city should work towards growing the housing supply across all income levels, create practical pathways to homeownership, help longtime residents remain in their neighborhoods and pair development with clear measures of affordability and access.
Her fifth priority is improving transportation, sixth is providing opportunities for residents regardless of the zip code of the neighborhood and, finally, a government residents can trust.
Kigeya said her policies will be based on lived experiences. She cited her own struggles as a single mother of four kids worrying about stability.
“I think we rely too much on, and not that it’s not that it’s not important, but we rely too much on just the person’s credentials and not taking lived experience into consideration and not looking at the people who actually live in the city, whether their voice matters.,” Kigeya said. “I feel like people in the city, their voice matters, and I want to bring that and incorporate that into the campaign.”
The primary election for the mayoral race will be held in February 2027, where the two candidates with the most votes will advance to the April general election.
