CHICAGO – Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is sensing history after a few days at the Democratic National Convention as the elusive goal of electing the first female president seems within reach.
“I think it is so important for us to have women on the stage,” Rhodes-Conway told WisPolitics-WisconsinEye in a DNC video reflecting on a week with many famous Democratic women speaking to the convention. “I’m of the generation that grew up watching Geraldine Ferraro not ascend to the vice presidency, and frankly, as a young girl, that was heartbreaking. And so to see so many accomplished, elected women on the stage is real. It’s very emotional for me, and it’s really inspiring. And I think about the young women who are coming up now to see that leadership and to know that they can literally do anything they can aspire to the highest office in the land that is really powerful for our country.”
She said Kamala Harris understands the mission, telling a story from when the vice president visited Madison earlier this year.
“She’s walking out, and somebody from the press says, `Vice President, how are you going to beat Donald Trump?’ And she says, ‘One vote at a time.’ That’s how we’re going to do it, right? We need to organize. We need to have a strong ground game. As Nancy Pelosi said this morning at our breakfast, we need to own the ground.”
That’s going to be easier with the spike in Dem enthusiasm in a county that is vivid blue and turns out in high numbers. “There is a different feeling in the country now, and I think that we are more organized than ever. And I think that the folks here and from Wisconsin are fired up and ready to go,” she said, praising Biden as “the most accomplished president of my lifetime.”
But she added: “Absolutely, Madison has a new energy around Kamala Harris being the top of the ticket and, frankly, pretty excited about Governor Walz, too. …The voter turnout in August was way up. I think that’s a reflection of the excitement.”
Rhodes-Conway cautioned that Dems can’t take the momentum for granted. “We’ve got to do the work, and it’s important for the vice president to articulate her platform, and I think she’s doing a great job of talking about what she stands for here at the convention,” she said.
The mayor also explains why Madison needs approval of a $22 million referendum on the fall ballot despite a new state revenue sharing law.
Watch the video at WisconsinEye.
