Socialist Juliana Bennett Is Running for Wisconsin State House
In Wisconsin, the birthplace of “sewer socialism,” socialists are again building their forces and making a bid for the governor’s seat. Juliana Bennett, running in the 76th District in Madison, hopes to join the growing socialist caucus in the state house.
Juliana Bennett speaks to a group of antiwar protesters outside the Madison Concourse Hotel on April 7, 2026, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Courtesy of Juliana for the People)
New York’s democratic socialists typically get most of the national media attention. But socialists have also been quietly winning elections across the Midwest over the last few years.
That includes in Wisconsin, one of the Socialist Party’s early-twentieth-century strongholds and the birthplace of “sewer socialism.” Socialists now have a four-person caucus in the state legislature, and one of its members, Rep. Francesca Hong, is now running for governor. (Polls suggest she has a real shot at winning the Democratic primary.)
Juliana Bennett, a socialist former alder for Madison who has been endorsed by the city’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter, is running for Hong’s current seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly’s Seventy-Sixth District. Jacobin recently spoke to Bennett about what inspired her to become an elected official, the crisis of affordable housing affecting the district, and what socialist victories in Wisconsin might mean for the movement nationally.
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