Chad Doran is the alderperson for Appleton’s 15th District. He was elected in 2021, after Alderperson Corey Otis stepped down from his seat. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2000 with a degree in journalism and advertising. After college, Doran worked as a sports editor and reporter in the Fox Valley from 2001 to 2014, when he was appointed to the position of Communications Director of the City of Appleton by former Mayor Tim Hanna. He held this position until 2020, the same year he ran for mayor, but lost in the primary to former Alderperson Jim Clemons and current Mayor Jake Woodford. Doran has also served as Calumet County Supervisor since 2022.
In February 2021, Doran was appointed District Director for former State Senator Roger Roth (R-Wis.) and in August 2022 became Communications Director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. In 2023, Doran managed the unsuccessful campaign of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly, who ran as the conservative candidate for the court and lost on April 4 to Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz.
In Doran’s position as an Appleton alderperson, he serves on the Municipal Services Committee, the Utilities Committee and the Board of Building Inspection. As Calumet County Supervisor, he serves on the Administrative Services Committee and the Committee on the Rules of Order. According to his campaign website from 2021, Doran considers himself a business owner. He has described his top issues as infrastructure, public safety and fiscal responsibility on Facebook.
During the 2023 budget process, which took place at the end of 2022, Doran proposed three amendments that sought to shift money from aldermanic parking passes, the Council Training Budget and various city departments, to the concrete fund to cover road reconstruction. According to All Things Appleton, these cuts would have resulted in the firings of many city employees and saved $433,512, which Director of Public Works Danielle Block claimed would have only covered the cost of paving less than one-fifth of a mile of road. All three amendments failed, with Doran and District 13 Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim, the council’s other staunch conservative, being the only alderpersons to vote for the first two amendments, and Doran being the only one to vote for the third amendment.
In October 2022, Doran proposed an amendment to strike language from District 6 Alderperson Denise Fenton’s resolution, a resolution that was passed to show support to the election workers in the City of Appleton. The language Doran proposed to strike stated that election workers have been subject to bullying and threats, that City Clerk Kami Lynch and nonpartisan election inspectors are best equipped to preside over free and fair elections, that the council would oppose any future attempts to hand over control of elections to a partisan entity and that as long as election staff continue to administer fair elections, the Common Council would stand firmly behind them. He characterized the language as “inflammatory.” Only Doran and Hartzheim voted to support the amendment, and then, in turn, voted against Fenton’s resolution.
On Wednesday, March 15, Doran submitted a resolution to eliminate No Mow May, the city ordinance that delays lawn height enforcement until June. The amendment was recommended for denial by the Municipal Service Committee on Monday, April 10, and failed on Wednesday, April 19, in an 11-3 vote.
Doran did not respond to various attempts to set up an interview, made over email, text, phone call and Facebook Messenger.