UW-Madison junior Bryon Eagon won the District 8 seat on the Madison Common Council Tuesday, ousting his opponent, fellow junior Mark Woulf, with nearly 75 percent of the votes.
Eagon garnered a total of 450 votes to Woulf's 155 votes in the four wards comprising the mainly student-populated District 8. Eagon said his hard-fought efforts to connect with students face-to-face largely contributed to his successful campaign.
I think people recognized my passion for representing student issues and my knowledge on these issues, that I've done my homework, so I think that came through in today's results"" he said.
Eagon will be officially sworn in April 21, just a few hours before his first Common Council meeting. In the meantime, he said he will continue hearing student concerns and consider partnering with other downtown alders to address common issues, particularly student safety.
""The next few weeks [are] going to be really important to me to have a knowledge base on the issues so on Day One I know where I stand and I know what steps need to be taken to really accomplish these goals that I set forth,"" Eagon said.
Woulf commended Eagon on a ""greatly run campaign"" and said he and members of his campaign staff are optimistic about the future of District 8 under Eagon.
""We're still encouraged. We know that there's students out there that really care about the issues and the voter turnout was decent today, so that's a good sign,"" he said. ""I do think that Bryon is going to reflect those needs well.""
Eagon will replace current District 8 Ald. Eli Judge, a UW-Madison senior who opted out of a second term to attend law school after graduating this May. Judge, who along with Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz endorsed Eagon last month, said he feels ""bittersweet"" about his two-year term coming to an end.
""You're not going to miss the 4 a.m. meetings, but you're definitely going to miss the ability to really be that voice,"" Judge said. ""But the reason that the happiness outweighs the sadness is because I know the district is in such great hands.
