Marsha Rummel
Marsha Rummel was a member of the Madison Common Council in Wisconsin, representing District 6. She assumed office on April 18, 2023. She left office on April 15, 2025.
Rummel ran for election to the Madison Common Council to represent District 6 in Wisconsin. She won in the general election on April 4, 2023.
Rummel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Although common council elections in Madison are officially nonpartisan, Rummel has been affiliated with the Democratic Party.[1]
Biography
Rummel earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rummel's professional experience includes work as a revenue agent for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, a bookkeeper for Liberty Tree, and a cofounder and financial manager of the Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative. She has also served as president of the Marquette Neighborhood Association Board. In 2011, Rummel was awarded the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council's Award for Distinguished Service-Elected Official.[2][3][4]
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Madison, Wisconsin (2023)
General election
General election for Madison Common Council District 6
Marsha Rummel defeated Davy Mayer in the general election for Madison Common Council District 6 on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Marsha Rummel (Nonpartisan)  | 55.8 | 3,870 |
| Davy Mayer (Nonpartisan) | 43.7 | 3,025 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 35 | ||
| Total votes: 6,930 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Davy Mayer and Marsha Rummel advanced from the primary for Madison Common Council District 6.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Wesley Guthrie (Nonpartisan)
- Donna Anne (Nonpartisan)
- Fae Dremock (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
Rummel received the following endorsements.
2020
See also: Wisconsin State Assembly elections, 2020
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 76
Francesca Hong defeated Patrick Hull in the general election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 76 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Francesca Hong (D) | 88.0 | 35,731 |
 | Patrick Hull (R) | 11.8 | 4,779 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 84 | ||
| Total votes: 40,594 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Thomas Leager (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 76
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 76 on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Francesca Hong | 28.1 | 4,793 |
| Tyrone Cratic Williams | 22.4 | 3,810 | ||
| Marsha Rummel | 16.5 | 2,803 | |
| Heather Driscoll | 16.3 | 2,780 | ||
 | Nicki Vander Meulen | 9.3 | 1,586 | |
 | Ali Maresh | 6.5 | 1,099 | |
| Dewey Bredeson | 0.8 | 143 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 15 | ||
| Total votes: 17,029 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Chris Taylor (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 76
Patrick Hull advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 76 on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Patrick Hull | 99.3 | 302 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 2 | ||
| Total votes: 304 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign finance
2019
See also: City elections in Madison, Wisconsin (2019)
General election
General election for Madison Common Council District 6
Incumbent Marsha Rummel won election in the general election for Madison Common Council District 6 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Marsha Rummel (Nonpartisan) | 97.8 | 4,462 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.2 | 100 | ||
| Total votes: 4,562 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2017
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held an election for common council on April 4, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was January 3, 2017.
All 20 common council seats were up for election in 2017. Incumbents ran for re-election in 19 of the 20 districts. They were unopposed in 15 of those races. Incumbent Marsha Rummel ran unopposed in the general election for the District 6 seat on the Madison Common Council.[5]
| Madison Common Council, District 6 General Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Marsha Rummel Incumbent (unopposed) |
97.88% | 3,239 |
| Write-in votes | 2.12% | 70 |
| Total Votes | 3,309 | |
| Source: Dane County Clerk, "2017 Spring Election," accessed May 4, 2017 | ||
| Click [show] on the right for information about other elections in which this candidate ran. |
|---|
2015The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held elections for mayor and city council on April 7, 2015. A primary took place on February 17, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was January 6, 2015.[6][7] In District 6, incumbent Marsha A. Rummel ran unopposed.[8] |
Endorsements
- Democratic Party of Dane County[1]
- Four Lakes Green Party[9]
- Progressive Dane[10]
- Wisconsin State AFL-CIO[11]
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Marsha Rummel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rummel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
From 2007-2021, I served as the district 6 alder on the Madison Common Council. My leadership helped revitalize the East Washington corridor, from low density highway-oriented retail to multi-story housing and office buildings, a grocery store, and a new park. My persistence helped preserve the historic Garver Feed Mill now the winter home of the Dane County Farmers Market and destination for food and entertainment. After a series of officer involved shootings in the district, I was a leader in the Council’s initiatives to review police policies and develop more community oversight.
I bring an anti-racist, social justice, and environmental lens to my work. Building community power at the local level is the best way I know to make a better world.
- I will scale up affordable housing efforts and protect already existing affordable housing
- I will support green and appropriate infill development based on adopted plans and community input
- I will focus on safe streets, green infrastructure for storm water management and step up efforts to increase our canopy tree coverage in public right of ways.
I have worked collaboratively with neighborhood residents, local business owners, developers, and city staff on dozens of proposed infill projects to ensure new developments fit zoning and adopted plans. I enjoy engaging residents in local government, making sure everyone understands people have the power to shape and make policy through the democratic process.
We need stable and safe housing for all residents. Given the housing crisis and lack of affordability, many residents are housing burdened, paying over 50% of their income on shelter. The private market has provided new rental units at the high end of the market but is not meeting the demand for new owner-occupied housing (multi-unit buildings) in the core areas of the city at any price point. High income households have more choices but low and moderate income households are struggling to find rental or owner-occupied housing they can afford.
PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals used at Truax Field have been documented by the WIS DNR in high levels in the fish (eaten by subsistence fisher people) and surface waters of Starkweather Creek, area wells (Well #15 is temporarily closed due to PFAS contamination) and in storm water discharge. I will continue to monitor the construction of a treatment system of PFAS in Well 15 using granular activated carbon, report on WDNR testing results of fish in Starkweather Creek to inform local fisher people of “safe” consumption amounts, and track efforts to cleanup of Truax Field by the city, county, and Air Force.
Combating Madison’s housing crisis will be a priority for me. We urgently need to scale up our affordable housing efforts and protect already existing housing. I will fight displacement of low-income residents wherever I can. Promoting affordable and stable housing is vital if we are to address racial disparities in health, education, and generational wealth and ensure everyone has a right to live in the city. I believe that the city needs to expand affordable housing options that are non-market based.
1. Promote limited equity cooperatives, co-housing, land banking, land trusts.
2. The city or our non-profit partners should buy and deed restrict naturally occurring affordable housing.
3. Expand affordable home ownership options and economic development strategies to increase wealth, especially intergenerational wealth for communities of color. Expand down payment assistance and lease to own programs.
4. The city should use the bonding authority of CDA or partner with a community development entity with this authority to build more publicly owned and community owned mixed income housing.
5. The Community Development Division should require 99-year deed restrictions for city grants for affordable housing to guarantee permanent affordability.
6. The city could act as a public bank and provide lower interest rates for non-profit and for-profit developers.
South Central Federation of Labor/COPE
Progressive Dane
Four Lakes Green Party
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.
2020
Marsha Rummel did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2017
Rummel's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[12]
| “ |
East Washington 'Capitol East District' corridor The purchase of the Don Miller site using land-bank funds follows years of planning and discussion involving the adjacent neighborhoods, Capitol East and Greater Williamson area businesses, and other stakeholders on how to grow and green this historic commercial and industrial corridor. I have been involved in planning efforts since 2004 when I started attending the East Rail Corridor Plan Advisory committee, participated in the adoption of TID 36 in 2005, was a member of the Capitol Gateway BUILD Committee and the adopted design guidelines for the district with Urban Design District 8. I've been a strong supporter of the Madison Sustainability Commerce Center, an effort the city has undertaken to bring cutting edge green cluster business and start-ups to the area. Union Corners I am proud to have participated and organized with neighbors to plan the future of Union Corners, part of a multi-year effort of the Schenk Atwood Starkweather Yahara neighborhood council, Worthington Park and Emerson East Neighborhood Associations, EINPC, Friends of Union Corners and other stakeholders. Our ongoing efforts to find temporary and transitional uses (BoomBox the Wasteland) for Union Corners and our intervention into the Congress for A New Urbanism conference held in Madison in June 2011 with a design charrette focused on Union Corners shaped the RFP and informed the Gorman proposal. Madison Kipp Corporation After this news broke, I took initiative to organize a series of community meetings so neighbors could learn what was going on. My efforts to increase transparency between the regulator and the regulated has resulted in more proactive measures on the part of DNR and State and local Public Health agencies to reach out to the community surrounding Kipp, not just the immediate neighbors. Over the last year, DNR and MKC have installed sub-slab vapor mitigation systems to most of the homes surrounding the factory. Kipp and the City have also installed groundwater testing wells to determine the extent of impact on our surface and deep aquifer water supply. The Water Utility is also monitoring Well 8 at the Olbrich sledding hill. I have been requesting that DNR create a map of contamination of PCE, PCBs and PAHs in the soil, vapor and groundwater. SASYNA has formed a Kipp committee and has been organizing around the concerns of the community. Rep. Chris Taylor has been very active on this issue and we have been working together . Kipp faces a DNR/DOJ lawsuit and two class action suits filed by affected residents. More information can be found at http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Brownfields/kipp.html Economic Development The city sponsored Cooperative Business Conference in June 2012 highlighted the importance of growing our cooperative base. The conference brought together a diverse array of businesses from health care providers, grocery stores, credit unions, taxicab companies, engineering firms and bookstores like my employer Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative. The cooperative ownership model provides not only the benefits of jobs, democratic management by members, but also the maintenance of assets and wealth within the community. East Madison Shopping Center Traffic and Transportation planning Traffic and transportation should always be linked to discussions about potential land use. We need to create sufficient residential and employment densities throughout the city to allow multi-modal options such as bike paths, Metro and bus rapid transit and eventually commuter/passenger rail to become realistic and affordable alternatives to single occupancy trips. We need to insure pedestrian safety and walkable neighborhoods served by neighborhood businesses with a variety of goods and services. We need to slow traffic in residential areas and acknowledge that we are the traffic we complain about. I will work with neighbors and Traffic Engineering to discuss traffic calming strategies. I’ve tried to adopt a 'Fix it First' approach to road repair and carefully scrutinize the social costs and environmental impacts of widening roads. I have consistently voted against the proposed expansion of Hwy M and Hwy S in all of its phases. It would be great to have more progressive alders on the council who will vote for policies that will build a city that encourages connectivity, appropriate density and mixed uses as opposed to more sprawling models of development at the edge of the city. We need more urban, less suburban places. Judge Doyle Square Planning Monitor the safety of our Drinking Water We live in a densely developed area and must make a conscious effort to recharge our aquifers through responsible conservation programs such as rain gardens, rain barrels, permeable paving options and LEED or equivalent standards for green building to manage water use and runoff. Insuring safe drinking water will require a commitment to investing in our infrastructure and I am committed to working with the Water Utility and residents to take care of this vital resource. Community Security Community security starts with personal safety and the right to be safe in your home, on the street and at school and work. The recent uptick in burglaries on the near east side in 2012 have increased concerns throughout the district. I have organized meetings with affected neighbors and the police to discuss best practices for taking care of ourselves and our neighbors. Community security means we must pay attention to stressed neighborhoods and step up efforts to combat poverty. Community security means creating living wage jobs and focusing on job skils and mentoring our youth. Community security means food security initiatives like urban agriculture, pantry gardens and donations for food banks, Madison Timebank. Community security means we attend to the impacts of alcohol and drug addictions. Community security means shelter and access to safe and affordable housing. We need to build more single room occupancy housing to get homeless individuals into housing. We also need to expand the shelter capacity for all but especially women and kids. Community security means community policing which requires building face to face relationships in neighborhoods and our schools. We all need to be involved in community policing if it is to be accountable to our values. Budget |
” |
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Democratic Party of Dane County, "2015 Spring Endorsements," March 15, 2015
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Marsha Rummel," accessed February 2, 2017
- ↑ City of Madison Common Council, "About Alder Rummel," accessed February 2, 2017
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 24, 2023
- ↑ City of Madison City Clerk's Office, "Candidate Filings," accessed January 26, 2017
- ↑ City of Madison, "Election Schedule," accessed September 19, 2014
- ↑ City of Madison, "Campaign Finance and Candidate Information for 2015," accessed October 17, 2014
- ↑ City of Madison Elections, "Filings-Spring 2015," accessed January 7, 2015
- ↑ Green Party Watch, "Madison Greens Endorse 7 Local Candidates in Spring 2015 Election," February 27, 2015
- ↑ Progressive Dane, "Our Endorsed 2015 Candidates," accessed February 2, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, "Spring Endorsements 2015," accessed February 2, 2017
- ↑ Marshal Rummel, "Issues," accessed February 2, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Madison Common Council District 6 2023-2025 |
Succeeded by Davy Mayer |
| Preceded by - |
Madison Common Council District 6 2007-2021 |
Succeeded by Brian Benford |
| |||||||||
