Samba Baldeh (born September 10, 1971) is a

Gambian American Gambian Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of Gambian descent. There are about 8000 Gambians living in the United States, involving themselves in activities ranging from business and entrepreneurship to college education. Additionally, d ...

immigrant,

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

professional, and Democratic politician from

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. He served two terms as 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. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

, representing

Wisconsin's 48th Assembly district The 48th Assembly district of Wisconsin is one of 99 districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Located in south-central Wisconsin, the district comprises northeastern suburban and exurban areas of the Madison area within northeast Dane County ...

from 2021 to 2025. He is the first

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

member of the

Wisconsin Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republ ...

. Before his election to the Assembly, he served six years on the

Madison Common Council Madison Common Council is a city council of the legislative branch of the government of the City of Madison in Wisconsin. The Madison Common Council consists of 20 alderpersons elected from 20 districts who serve two-year terms. The Common Counc ...

, and was president of the Council from 2018 to 2019.

Early life and career

Samba Baldeh was born in

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, in western Africa. He is a member of the Fulani tribe of semi-

nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

ic livestock

herder A herder is a pastoralism, pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on extensive management, open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic pastoralism, nomadic or transhuma ...

s. His father died when he was about four years old. There was little formal education in Choya, which had a population of only about fifty people. The children there were taught

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, and how to pray. Baldeh later described that curiosity led him to walk the six mile route each day to the "western" school, where he learned to read and speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. His family soon consented to him moving to the capital,

Banjul Banjul (, (US) and ), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital city of The Gambia. It is the centre of the eponymous administrative division which is home to an estimated 400,000 residents, making it The Gambia's largest and most densely ...

, at age 8 to live with his uncle and continue his education. He attended college at the

University of the Gambia The University of the Gambia (UTG) is an institution of higher education located in Kanifing, the Gambia. History The campus was founded in 1998 in Kotu-Kanifing District, Kanifing, a suburb of Sere Kunda. It was not until March 1999 that the U ...

and became involved in protests against the country's dictator,

Yahya Jammeh Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former soldier, who served as President of the Gambia from 1996 to 2017. He was the Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 1994 ...

. His activism brought him to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in 1999 for a Global Meeting of Generations conference. It was there that he met a student coordinator for

Madison Area Technical College Madison Area Technical College, or simply Madison College or MATC, is a public technical college in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It serves students in south-central Wisconsin and is part of the Wisconsin Technical College System. The co ...

. After the conference, he became convinced that he should further his education in science and technology. He emigrated to

, in 2000 and earned his

U.S. citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constit ...

in 2005. He studied

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and earned his

associate's degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree. ...

from Madison Area Technical College in 2007. After receiving his degree, Baldeh started a small IT consulting business and was employed as a software engineer at the Madison-based

American Family Insurance American Family Mutual Insurance Company, also abbreviated as AmFam, is an American private mutual company that focuses on property, casualty, and auto insurance, and also offers commercial insurance, life, health, and homeowners coverage ...

Political career

In 2015, Baldeh announced he would run for a seat on the Madison Common Council, challenging 8-year incumbent Joe Clausius. Baldeh campaigned on shifting the city's focus from downtown development to increasing services and community space in the city's neighborhoods and strengthening the fabric of the community. In the April 2015 election, Baldeh won a narrow 32 vote victory over Clausius. Baldeh was unopposed seeking reelection in 2017. In April 2018, the common council unanimously elected Baldeh to serve as president for the 2018–2019 term. Baldeh was outspoken after the wave election of 2019 when nearly half of the common council members and the longtime Mayor of Madison,

Paul Soglin Paul R. Soglin (born April 22, 1945) is an American politician and former three-time Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, having served a total of 22 years in that office 1973-79, 1989-1997, and 2011-19. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a candida ...

, were ousted. He pointed out that such a massive change in personnel might be disruptive until the new members got up to speed, and wanted to refocus attention on one of the major campaign issues, the contentious development of the Judge

Doyle Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish (), meaning "descendant of ''Dubhghall''". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname ''D'Oyley'' with aggl ...

Square project. In January 2020, northern Madison's assembly representative, Melissa Sargent, announced she would forego reelection and would instead run for a newly open seat in the

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after those o ...

. Baldeh was one of four Democrats who entered the

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 Work ...

to replace her in the

. Baldeh ultimately prevailed in the primary with nearly 50% of the vote. He faced 19-year-old Republican Samuel Anderson in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, and won nearly 80% of the vote in the heavily Democratic district.

Personal life and family

Samba Baldeh was born into the Fulani tribe of semi-nomadic livestock herders. His mother still lives in

. Aside from his work and political career, Baldeh has been active with the

Kanifing Kanifing is a municipality, Local Government Areas of the Gambia, local government area and Districts of the Gambia, district in the Gambia. It is part of the Greater Banjul Area, to the west of Banjul, and is governed by Kanifing Municipal Co ...

-Madison sister city project, the AIDS Network, the Senegambia Association, and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Madison. He has also been a member of the boards of the

Young African Leaders Initiative The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is an initiative of the United States Department of State. It was started by President Barack Obama in 2010. YALI is a programme aimed at educating and networking young African leaders with activities i ...

and the 100 Black Men of Madison. In 2016, he was a guest of Wisconsin congressman

Mark Pocan Mark William Pocan ( ; born August 14, 1964) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative from Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district since 2013. The district is based in the state capital, Madison. A member of t ...

to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's 2016 State of the Union Address. He and his wife, Fatou, were married in 2008. They live on Madison's north side.

Electoral history

Madison City Council (2015, 2019)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 7, 2015 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 2, 2019

Wisconsin Assembly (2020, 2022)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Democratic Primary, August 11, 2020 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 3, 2020

Wisconsin Senate (2024)

References

External links

* *
2020 Campaign website

2015 Campaign website (Archived – April 15, 2015)

48th Assembly District map (2011–2021)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldeh, Samba Living people 1971 births Wisconsin city council members Madison Area Technical College alumni African-American state legislators in Wisconsin African-American Muslims Gambian emigrants to the United States Gambian Muslims 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Muslims from Wisconsin 21st-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature