Darrin Brian Madison Jr. (born 1996) is an American justice activist and politician. He is a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

, representing

Wisconsin's 10th Assembly district The 10th Assembly District of Wisconsin is one of 99 districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Located in southeastern Wisconsin, the district is entirely contained within northeastern Milwaukee County. The district comprises several neighborhoo ...

since January 2023.

Biography

Darrin Madison Jr. was born and raised in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. At a young age, he was introduced to activism through the "Young Scientist" program at Milwaukee's Urban Ecology Center. At age 14, he participated in the mass protests against

2011 Wisconsin Act 10 The 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, also known as the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, is legislation proposed by Republican Governor Scott Walker and passed by the Wisconsin Legislature to address a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit. The legislation prima ...

—the Budget Repair Bill which abolished collective bargaining rights for public employees. Later that year, he joined Urban Underground, a youth-led social justice organization in Milwaukee. Through his teenage years, he worked on social justice campaigns fighting for youth jobs, education, public safety, sexual health, and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

. He graduated from

Ronald Wilson Reagan College Preparatory High School Ronald Wilson Reagan College Preparatory High School (RWR) is a high school located at 4965 South 20th Street in the Town of Lake neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It is a part of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Formerly known as Town ...

in 2015 and went on to earn his bachelor's degree from Howard University. While in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, he worked on political campaigns in Maryland, D.C., and Alaska. After earning his degree, he returned to Milwaukee as an

AmeriCorps AmeriCorps (officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work prog ...

Public Allies Public Allies is an American nonprofit organization that operates an AmeriCorps program and is dedicated to young-adult leadership development. Its mission is to create a just and equitable society and the diverse leadership to sustain it. Hist ...

volunteer, returning to the Urban Ecology Center and working with Milwaukee's Environmental Collaboration Office.

Political career

In the 2020 general election, incumbent

Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is the legislative branch of the government of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. Supervisors are elected to the board in nonpartisan elections. There are 18 supervisors. The county board has sev ...

member Supreme Moore Omokunde was elected to the

and therefore had to vacate his county board seat. A special election was called for the following spring election, and Madison was one of five candidates vying for the seat. Madison came in second in the nonpartisan

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and faced Priscilla Coggs-Jones in the general election. He ultimately fell just 12 votes short of Coggs-Jones in the April 2021 general election. Later that year, Wisconsin State Assembly incumbent David Bowen announced he would run for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin rather than seek another term representing the 10th Assembly district. Madison entered the race for the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

nomination and defeated

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

mayor Bryan Kennedy in the primary. Madison faced no opponent in the general election in the overwhelmingly Democratic district.

Electoral history

Milwaukee County Board (2021)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Nonpartisan Primary, February 23, 2021 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 6, 2021

Wisconsin State Assembly (2022)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Democratic Primary, August 9, 2022 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 8, 2022

References

External links

Campaign website
(Archived November 4, 2022) *
Darrin Madison
at Wisconsin Vote {{DEFAULTSORT:Madison, Darrin 1996 births Living people Howard University alumni Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Members of the Democratic Socialists of America African-American state legislators in Wisconsin Politicians from Milwaukee 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians