Brian Benford

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Brian Benford

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Madison Common Council District 6

Predecessor: Marsha Rummel

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Elections and appointments

Last election

April 6, 2021

Contact

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Brian Benford was a member of the Madison Common Council in Wisconsin, representing District 6. He assumed office on April 20, 2021. He left office on April 18, 2023.

Benford ran for election to the Madison Common Council to represent District 6 in Wisconsin. He won in the general election on April 6, 2021.

Elections

2021

See also: City elections in Madison, Wisconsin (2021)

General election

General election for Madison Common Council District 6

Brian Benford won election in the general election for Madison Common Council District 6 on April 6, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brian Benford (Nonpartisan)	99.3	3,298
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	24

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,322
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Wisconsin State Senate District 26

Kelda Roys defeated Kelly Tenpas in the general election for Wisconsin State Senate District 26 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kelda Roys (D)	98.2	102,569
	Submit photo	Kelly Tenpas (D) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	1.8	1,919

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 104,488
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 26

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 26 on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kelda Roys	40.2	19,801
		Nada Elmikashfi	26.8	13,220
		Brian Benford	9.5	4,699
		Amani Latimer Burris	8.9	4,370
		Aisha Moe	7.4	3,632
		John Imes	6.2	3,074
		William Davis III	0.8	408
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	44

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 49,248
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Endorsements

To view Benford's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Brian Benford did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Brian Benford completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Benford's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Brian Benford and I am a candidate for Wisconsin State Senate in District 26. I have worked and lived in Madison for over 30 years, mainly in the East Side. I have held many positions throughout my career as an activist and edcuator, including Youth Resource Director, family advocate, success coach for the UW-Madison Odyssey Project, and even an Alder for the 12th District of the Madison Common Council. Regardless of the title I held, I have dedicated myself to fighting for underserved communities through activism and public policy. I am running for State Senate because our policymakers in the State Legislature have failed to represent the needs of Wisconsin's most vulnerable, instead prioritizing the greed of corporations and special interests. We need new legislation to protect our environment, expand our healthcare, and reform our criminal justice system so that liberty and justice can be accessible to everyone. In the State Senate, I will continue to fight for the people of Madison and Dane County, just as I have done for the past 30 years,

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I will be a leader that prioritizes the needs of the community I represent over special interests, corporations, and electoral politics.
• We need an intersectional legislative agenda that acknowledges the influences of poverty, race, and similar factors on policy outcomes.
• As State Senator, I will do everything within my power to ensure that "Liberty and Justice for All" actually means "for All."

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public Education

Affordable Housing
Increasing the Minimum Wage
Criminal Justice and Police Reform
Environmental Protections
Anti-Discrimination Protections
Barring F-35s from Truax Field

Expanding BadgerCare

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2021 Elections

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Marsha Rummel	Madison Common Council District 6 2021-2023	Succeeded by -