A youth development manager focused on improving schools faces a career telecommunications professional prioritizing broadband expansion in the Madison-area 47th Assembly District Democratic primary on Aug. 13.

The contest between Joe Maldonado, a current Fitchburg alderman elected in 2020, and Randy Udell, a former alderman who served from 2020 to 2024, will determine who will represent the district come January 2025. No Republicans registered to run in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, which encompasses Fitchburg, Stoughton and part of McFarland in Dane County.

It’s one of 13 Assembly districts statewide without a Republican candidate in the fall election, six of which are in increasingly Democratic Dane County. The others are in Milwaukee, Beloit and Racine.

While they were colleagues on the city council, Maldonado and Udell are running two distinct campaigns.

Maldonado is billing himself as the candidate who has firsthand knowledge of the challenges facing the state’s public schools and Wisconsin students. 

Maldonado’s experience in youth work for almost 20 years and role as a member of the Verona Area School District Supertintendents’ Parent Advisory Committee grounds his campaign in educational needs, he said. He also said one of his top priorities as a policymaker is keeping residents “well informed.”

“Folks really want to ensure that kids have what they need,” he told Wisconsin Watch, expressing concerns about student mental health. He also said the state should legalize cannabis to use its revenue to financially support school districts.

Udell is billing himself as a policymaker with real world experience working on what he said is one of the district’s biggest needs: broadband expansion.

“Even in the rural areas that have farmers, they run a business, it’s a big business and they all need (the) internet,” Udell, who also serves on the Dane County Board and worked as an engineer with AT&T for almost 30 years, told Wisconsin Watch. “And I hear this over and over again, they want broadband.”

Broadband in Stoughton comes down to affordability, Stoughton Mayor Tom Swadley said. While many people have access, they often grapple over choosing health care or day care over broadband because of the high cost. 

“When you get out in the rural (areas), there are some real challenges, and many of the students that go to our school district live in the rural (areas), and for them to be able to access broadband is really important for our education system and for business owners as well,” he said. 

Swadley said in an interview the state funding formula is not a “sustainable” model for school districts to be able to recruit and retain talent, he said. Swadley is favoring Udell in the race, but said “both would be great candidates.”

“Certainly the education has been underfunded. Under Gov. Evers, there’s been some significant improvements, but we’re still not where we need to be,” Swadley said. “The public school system has really been under attack, and I think both the candidates will work to try to address that issue.”

Udell said his experience as chair of Fitchburg’s finance committee sets him apart from Maldonado, who serves on the bicycle and personnel committees. He also has managed multimillion-dollar budgets since being elected treasurer of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in 2015. 

“When it comes to finance, budgeting is crucial. And I’m able to do that,” he said.

But as colleagues for four years Maldonado said he disagreed with some of Udell’s spending preferences.

“When our city was considering our proposed police facility in Fitchburg, it came $15 million over budget,” Maldonado said. “I not only advocated for better informing our residents about the process through mailers and through community engagement events or informational sessions, I also voted against the budget amendment because it had not been fleshed out.” 

Ultimately, the race could be determined by who connects better with communities in the district, Swadley said.

“We’ve always had representation that was visible and active in our community, whether it was the Assembly or the Senate,” the mayor said. “To me, that’s really the most important thing is to have representatives that are engaged and responsive.”

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.