“The price of service has become too high”: Madison mayor ends his re-election bid

The Madison mayor said she will not run for reelection in April, citing growing threats of violence against herself, her staff and her family.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway made the announcement in a letter released Friday.

After more than seven years in office, Rhodes-Conway said she is proud of the work she and her team have accomplished, including leading the city through the COVID-19 pandemic.

But she said in the letter that “the price of the service has become too high.”

“This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right decision for me and my family, for our personal safety, mental health and well-being,” Rhodes-Conway wrote.

Rhodes-Conway has faced criticism in recent months for how the city responded to the fatal police shooting of Corey Ruiz, 38, in July.

A memorial in Ruiz turned into an encampment, blocking a city intersection for more than a week and ending with the arrest of 16 people.

Rhodes-Conway did not refer to the events of this summer in her letter.

She said that during her years as mayor, community debate has “gone from productive discussion to increasingly virulent personal attacks” that she said alienate people from public service.

“When I ran for mayor, I expected to make sacrifices – but I did not expect this level of threats against myself, Council members, my staff and my family,” she said. “I did not expect such a serious deterioration in our civic discourse. And I did not expect the levels of implicit and explicit sexism that I was subjected to from the start of my first campaign.”

Rhodes-Conway announced her re-election bid in July, less than two weeks before Ruiz’s death. She was first elected in 2019, unseating longtime mayor Paul Soglin.

In her letter, she celebrated the improvements to public transportation, the use of renewable energy and investments in homeless services made during her tenure.

Eight candidates had already announced their intention to challenge Rhodes-Conway in 2027.