Madison Alder Samba Baldeh started his political career fighting against a dictator in his home country of the Gambia when he was 20 years old, where he found himself calling on the government to account for what is right, he said.
Today, after living in Wisconsin since 2000 and a quick catapult to Madison City Council president, Baldeh is running for the 48th Assembly District Seat, which covers Madison’s north and east side.
From those early college years, after leaving Choya – a farming village situated in the center of the West African country with a population of roughly 50– he has seen political involvement as a service, rather than an occupation he said. If elected, he will be reducing his six-figure salary as an information technology project manager at American Family Insurance to become a full-time lawmaker where he will make roughly $53,000 a year, he said.
His biggest priorities are expanding Medicaid, funding public schools after an expected reduction in property taxes due to COVID-19, immigrant rights, and protection against sexual harassment.
“I decided to leave this job and do service for my people. What is the best we all do when we lead the community,” Baldeh told Madison365. “It is not just about me and my family. If that was the only thing I wanted to focus on I would not be leaving my job. At the end of the day everybody asks themselves, how did I live my life? What is it that I did to make this world a better place? Not just for me and my family but for the greater good and for the greater population. For me it has nothing to do with career, but it is about advocating for community.”
The seat is currently held by Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, who announced she is seeking to replace retiring Monona Sen. Mark Miller in the 16th Senate District. Baldeh will vie against three Democratic candidates and one Republican candidate: Madison Ald. Lindsay Lemmer, who has served on the City Council since April 2019; Madison lawyer Walter Stewart; Jason Vangalis, who is a business retention and expansion specialist at Niagara Bottling, a bottle water manufacturer; and Samuel Anderson who is running on a libertarian platform.
Baldeh said he came to the U.S with little money, a dream to work hard and desire to learn. He went to Madison Area Technical College to take computer science courses. He ran for Common Council in 2015, and won District 17, against a third-term incumbent. Then just three short years later, he was unanimously elected to City Council president — the first time people of color held both the president and vice president position simultaneously.
He said he will draw on his various experiences of working in the private sector, starting a small business, speaking four different languages and previous political positions in the Assembly seat.
He said his experience as a child living in a small village and witnessing poverty around him has shaped his political views.
“I have not forgotten my own experience — of really not poverty in the sense of the United States but poverty in the sense of lack of access for basics,” he said. “I came from a farming family who was very supportive…I know many of my community was not as fortunate. A good number of people I grew up with were very poor– some of them were not able to send their kids to high school.”
He has been credited with helping to “soften the often combative relationship” between then-Mayor Paul Soglin and the 2018 council. And he hopes to take the same demeanor if elected to the Assembly.
“As a leader, not only as an elected official for somebody who had to be council president and work with the executive branch it really exposed me to how decisions are made and how sometimes you have to compromise. I have the ability and experience to work on these issues on day one if elected,” he said.
The primary election is scheduled for August 11 and the general election for November 3.
