Kristen Slack

Kristen Slack was a member of the Madison Common Council in Wisconsin, representing District 19. She assumed office on April 18, 2023. She left office on January 10, 2024.

Slack ran for election to the Madison Common Council to represent District 19 in Wisconsin. She won in the general election on April 4, 2023.

Slack completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kristen Slack was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Slack earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1991 and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1999. Her career experience includes working as a professor and as the founder of an educational technology company. Slack has been affiliated with the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Society for Social Work Research, and the ACLU.^[1]

Elections

2023

General election

General election for Madison Common Council District 19

Kristen Slack defeated John Guequierre in the general election for Madison Common Council District 19 on April 4, 2023.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kristen Slack (Nonpartisan)	65.3	4,140
	John Guequierre (Nonpartisan)	34.4	2,180
	Other/Write-in votes	0.4	24

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,344
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. John Guequierre and Kristen Slack advanced from the primary for Madison Common Council District 19.

Endorsements

Slack received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Slack's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here.

State Sen. Dianne Hesselbein (D)
State Rep. Lisa Subeck (D)
Dane County, Wisc., Democratic Party
AFSCME Wisconsin
Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin
Wisconsin State AFL-CIO
350 Wisconsin Action
Fair Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

Kristen Slack completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Slack'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.

For almost 23 years, I have been a professor of social work at UW-Madison, where I teach and conduct research on social problems and social welfare policies and systems. I am married to a wonderfully supportive husband, am the mother and step-mother to four amazing kids, ages 15 to 28, and the favorite person of our rescue dog. I am passionate about environmental conservation and the health of our natural resources, and doing all we can to reverse climate change and ensure we are passing on a healthier planet to our kids and the generations behind us.

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?

Neighborhood-centered economic development that can serve the daily needs of residents and with a mix of housing options and price points throughout the City.
Reversing the deterioration of our lakes and ensuring safe drinking water through improved stormwater management practices and more attention to carbon drawdown strategies.
Improving transparency and community engagement around setting future budget priorities and City priorities in the face of large increases in our city's debt load.

Community Question Featured local question

Did the COVID-19 pandemic change your approach to local policy issues? If so, please give us an example. If not, why?

We need a better community engagement infrastructure that can be mobilized quickly and effectively when emergencies hit or urgent feedback is needed. This will take time to build and gain broad resident engagement, but it will be well worth the time and investment in situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Community Question Featured local question

Do you think the downtown area is healthy? What is your definition of a healthy downtown? What changes, if any, would you like to make?

The pandemic has shifted how and where we work. Nearly one-quarter of our local workforce is remote. There are empty commercial spaces in nearly every new apartment building and close to 20% of our downtown office spaces are empty. The State of Wisconsin is even selling off three large buildings downtown. It is absolutely critical that we relook at our major plans and investments for downtown in light of these trends, some of which are here to stay according to every major news outlet.

I believe downtown should be a destination. The Monona Waterfront Challenge would be an amazing addition if we can afford to build it. A State St. pedestrian mall would be a draw, too. Amtrak and a regional transportation model can bring in more people from outside of the City to experience the downtown area. As more apartments and hopefully more condos are built downtown, this will spur more economic growth.

Community Question Featured local question

How important is it to involve residents in the government’s decision-making process? What plans do you have regarding resident involvement in this process?

Community engagement principles emphasize earning the trust of those you serve or represent. This requires humility, a learning mindset, a commitment to outreach, an openness to feedback, a bottom-up vs. a top-down approach, visible fairness, and transparency at every stage of City planning and decision-making.

Community Question Featured local question

How should record requests from the public be handled? Do you have any policies around transparency and accountability you want to enact?

Records requests are likely to decline significantly with greater City transparency and more proactive and authentic community engagement. When residents feel disenfranchised or lack trust in City processes, they will rely on things like records requests more often.

Community Question Featured local question

How would you address crime and public safety? Do you have a different stance than current city council policy?

I support the Police Civilian Oversight Board and the work they have been doing, as well as the CARES Program for responding to non-violent mental and behavioral health emergencies. I support body cameras on police officers with appropriate guardrails in place to prevent misuse, however the budget scenario we are now in may prevent us from being able to afford this expense, along with many other needed services and resources.

But the real solution to crime and improved public safety is prevention, which involves working with local nonprofits already doing great prevention work, building partnerships with companies, foundations, and donors, to build up needed services and resources, especially for youth. Our kids need much greater access to mentorship, recreational activities and spaces, and work training options.

We are also in the midst of a mental health crisis as reflected in a number of concerning trends, especially among our children and youth. This is an all-hands-on-deck problem on which we need urgent action that involves schools, health and mental health providers, local nonprofits on the frontline of this crisis, many levels of government, and of course, families and youth themselves.

Community Question Featured local question

What do you think about the city's current approach to public safety? Would you take any different positions?

I would put much more emphasis on prevention with respect to crime reduction. I would also like to see a more forward-looking model for stormwater management that leverages nature-based solutions. This can improve the quality of our drinking water and make the lakes safer for swimming and fishing, and natural lake habitats more robust. A more rigorous analysis is needed of Vision Zero to gain better insight on whether we are pursuing the most critical solutions (e.g., impaired driving and teen driving require additional, but different, interventions than reduced speed limits and intersection improvement).

Community Question Featured local question

What do you think about the city's environmental health? Would you make any changes to current policy?

We need much more attention to drawing down the legacy load of carbon in the atmosphere as a complement to strategies for reducing carbon emissions. I would center the natural environment and more extensive use of drawdown strategies for fighting climate change in every major initiative, policy, and project. I'd also love to see our City attract new businesses that develop and support carbon neutral home building, and more focus on using geothermal for heating and cooling, especially in larger commercial buildings.

Community Question Featured local question

What plans do you have regarding infrastructure?

The City needs to better recognize the vital importance of green spaces, lake and drinking water quality, trees, native plants and environmentally-sensitive practices for stormwater management. The natural environment should be considered along side and on par with other development priorities, in every City infrastructure project, and in development and infrastructure policies.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My whole career has been focused on a range of social welfare issues, particularly poverty and child maltreatment. Public policies play an especially large role in the reduction of both. However, policies also impact people in interconnected ways, so changes in one can produce unintended and inequitable consequences for people and communities. The intersection of multiple policies and programs is a particular focus of my work.

The other major focus of my research, teaching, and professional service work involves developing, implementing and evaluating a range of prevention strategies. Two lessons I've learned over the years is that the same policy or program in different contexts can produce very different results--or, context matters. The second is that policies and programs are more likely to work or work better if they have input and buy-in, especially from those they are intended to help or serve.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My mother, who raised me and my brother and taught 3rd grade for decades. Her generosity and kindness toward others, even complete strangers, served as a guide for us on how people should be treated. She also knew how to stand up for those who were treated poorly. My mom has been by my side for all of life's joys and hardships.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

From the City website, here is what Alders are supposed to be doing:

-Advocate for your district and your constituents in the City process.

-Serve on City committees as appointed and be an active, prepared and equal participant.

-Communicate actively with your constituents in multiple ways (e.g. listservs, newsletters, website, and meetings) about City resources and issues, policy debates, development proposals, and other relevant information.

-Participate fully in the process of developing and approving the annual City Budget.

-Communicate the needs and views of your constituents to City staff, committees and the Council.

People should also be more aware that their representatives on the Common Council are the ones making most of the decisions around policy and project priorities.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Dane Dems

Fair Wisconsin
350 Wisconsin
AFSCME PEOPLE
South Central Federation of Labor
Building and Construction Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin
Lisa Subeck, State Representative, 78th Assembly District
Dianne Hesselbein, State Senator, District 27
Roberta Gassman, Community Leader
Paul Soglin, Former Mayor of Madison
Mark Redsten, Director, Clean Wisconsin Community Action Fund
Dave Mahoney, Dane County Sheriff, Ret. 2007-2021
Syed Abbas, Former Council President and Alder
Nasra Wehelie, Alder
Bassam Shakhashiri, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
Judy Sikora, Former Planning & Program Analyst at State of Wisconsin and Former Lecturer at UW-Madison
Susan Bulgrin, Madison Area Business Owner

Many other residents of District 19 who encouraged me to run.

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.

Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.

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Candidate

Madison Common Council District 19

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 14, 2023

[bio-1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 14, 2023

[1]

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Kristen Slack

Contents

Biography

Elections

2023

General election

General election for Madison Common Council District 19

Nonpartisan primary election

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

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