There is little daylight on the issues between the Dems running for gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s Assembly seat in Madison. 

The candidates say experience sets them apart.

Seeking the Dem nomination for the 76th AD, one of the most liberal seats in Wisconsin, are: Isaia Ben-Ami, a state legislative policy director; Julianna Bennett, former Madison Common Council member and state legislative chief of staff; Tony Castañeda, musician and community organizer; Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, Common Council member and comedy production company owner; and Zoe Sullivan, an independent journalist. 

Two years ago, Dem presidential nominee Kamala Harris won more than 80% of the vote in the district, which includes parts of downtown and east Madison. The winner of the Aug. 11 primary will be heavily favored to win the seat in November, with Republican Nina Chat also on the ballot.

The five Dems agree on a number of policy issues: a moratorium on data center developments; the need to renew the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program; adding more affordable housing; expanding public healthcare access; increasing public school funding; and barring local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE. 

And they all support Hong in her run for governor. The three-term lawmaker hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the race for her Assembly seat.

Ben-Ami, Castañeda and Sullivan are all first-time candidates, while Bennett served as a Madison Common Council from 2021 to 2025 and Martinez-Rutherford is a current common council member, first elected in 2023.

Bennett is backed by the Madison Area Democratic Socialists, who endorsed Hong in her re-election campaign to the seat in 2024. Martinez-Rutherford is endorsed by the Fair Wisconsin PAC and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. Ben-Ami has been endorsed by Assistant Minority Leader Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee and Rep. Renuka Mayadev, D-Madison.

Here is a summary of their interviews with WisPolitics:

*Ben-Ami, 28, is a lifelong Madison resident who’s spent his career working in the state Legislature.

He began interning for then-state Sen. Melissa Agard in 2017, who is now Dane County executive, and has since worked for Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, and most recently as policy director for Haywood.

Ben-Ami said he is prioritizing the need to shift away from reliance on property taxes to fund public schools, calling it both “good housing and good education policy.” He also supports a cap on utility rates, where an individual would spend no more than 2% of household income on utility bills.

He also wants to implement more environmental protections to ensure access to clean water and air across the state.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to protect our planet and protect Wisconsin in particular, and we need to be investing our resources into making sure that that happens, so that we have a Wisconsin to give back to our kids and grandkids,” Ben-Ami said.

*Bennett, 26, stressed that her political and professional experience makes her the only candidate to have worked at the local, state and federal level.

In addition to serving on the Common Council, Bennett has also worked in the statehouse as chief of staff for Rep. Angelito Tenerio, D-West Allis, and as a federal legislative liaison to Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.

She also said she’d work with the next governor and Legislature to implement universal childcare, expand Medicaid and increase overall public health funding. 

Bennett said day one priorities if elected should be to pass “bold and audacious” bills that repeal Act 10, getting Wisconsin to 100% clean energy by 2050 and raising the minimum wage to $23 an hour.

“I do feel like environmental issues are interconnected with labor issues based upon how we build for the future. …the job of the 76th representative. … being the most Democratic district in the state is not to shoot down big ideas but is to foster them, nurture them, and bring them to the top level priority for the Democratic caucus,” Bennett said.

*Castañeda, 70, is a professional musician in a Latin jazz band he leads, a community organizer and a former job counselor who hosts a weekly radio show on WORT-FM

Castañeda said Wisconsin communities should consider freezing property taxes for retirees, which he defines as people 65 or older who aren’t working. Additionally, he is prioritizing other housing affordability measures, including a down payment assistance program for first-time home buyers.

Castañeda is adamant that ICE has no place in Wisconsin communities. He is also calling for more transparency in data center developments, citing a need to keep utility rates low for the general public and invest in local communities.

“They have to be more transparent in terms of what everything is really going to cost and whether or not they’re going to divert those costs onto ratepayers and just the general need for the data centers. I mean, a lot of them are being built and it’s questionable whether or not it’s going to be used for the local base, or if it’s for needs far away from Wisconsin,” Castañeda said of data center developments.

*Martinez-Rutherford, 56, owns a comedy production company, Lady Laughs Comedy, and has a background in the food service industry.

Martinez-Rutherford said she never expected to get into politics but as her identity as a transgender woman became increasingly “inherently political,” she saw the statehouse as an effective way to enact change. She would be the first openly transgender person to join the state Legislature if elected.

Martinez-Rutherford said she’d work to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour, gradually get rid of the school voucher program, place a cap on utility bills and prescription drug costs and add a Badger Care public option. She’d also like to gather more data on insurance companies denying claims.

“Our government runs more efficiently and affordably, it benefits everybody to take care of the most impoverished people and lift them out of poverty, and morally it’s the right thing to do. …when that gap between the richest people and the poorest people is diminished, everybody benefits,” Martinez-Rutherford said.

*Sullivan, 55, is an independent journalist, previously reporting on environmental issues in Brazil for Mongabay, with a background in social work and commercial banking.

Sullivan supports creating a public bank, in part to offer low-interest financing options to implement renewable energy systems into public buildings around the state. She also would like Wisconsin to consider adopting something similar to Vermont’s childcare financial assistance program, a state-funded program that helps eligible individuals and families pay for childcare.

Sullivan also said she’d like to consider adjusting what is considered a parole violation, including job loss or failure to show up to an appointment, to reduce prison populations with the hope of closing some state corrections facilities.

“It’s just a massive amount of money to be spent on something that is a dead end. I think we need to get out of that and shift that money back into productive investments that focus on human capital,” Sullivan said of the state’s Department of Corrections budget.

WisPolitics is interviewing candidates in top legislative primaries ahead of the Aug. 11 election, and this is the first in a series that will be released in the coming weeks.