About Alder MGR Govindarajan (he/him)

Alder Muralidharan (MGR) Govindarajan (he/him) was sworn in to serve as Alder for District 8 on April 18th, 2023. His district includes all of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus, and south-campus neighborhoods east of Randall Ave, North of Regent St, and west of Park St.

In his term as Alder, MGR is hoping to work to increase the city's focus to achieve affordable housing for students, increase mental health accessibility and funding throughout Madison, improve transportation and focus on pedestrian & biker safety throughout the city, and innovate and initiate sustainable policies. One of MGR's overreaching goals will be to increase the student impact in local politics, and ensure that students truly have a voice in the decisions being made that affect them & building the leaders of tomorrow.

MGR is a student studying Legal Studies and Political Science at UW-Madison, and intends to pursue law school after his undergraduate studies. He previously served as the Legislative Affairs Chair at the Associated Students of Madison, UW's Student Government. During his role there, he worked heavily with state legislators and the Office of Governor Evers' to increase state funds for student mental health services, and helped put affordable student housing on the radar of legislators as well.

One of his proudest achievements is connecting all 13 UW schools for the first time in over a decade by planning a large lobbying event at the Capitol involving over 150 students, lobbying for more student shared governance rights, increased mental health funding, and more.

In his free time, MGR enjoys bike rides and walking around Madison, especially while it's warm out. He also spends time with his family, who run a family-owned Indian restaurant in Oconomowoc, WI.