City of Milwaukee Elects a New Mayor in Close Race

The largest city in Wisconsin picked a new mayor on April 6. Tom Barrett won a four-year term.

The campaign was a hard fought battle. The campaign also left hurt feelings among people who supported the losing candidate. Barrett beat Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt. The winning candidate got 86,493 votes. The losing candidate got 74,361 votes.

Barrett received 54 percent of the vote. Pratt got 46 percent. The figure of 54 percent is important for another reason. Whites make up 54 percent of the people old enough to vote in the city, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Barrett takes office April 20. Pratt has been acting mayor since January. Pratt was an alderman. Pratt became acting mayor when John Norquist resigned. Norquist had been mayor since 1988.

Vote split by race

Barrett is white. Pratt is African-American. The vote was split along racial lines. Pratt got most of the black voters. Barrett got most of the white votes.

As mayor, Barrett said he will work hard to improve schools. He also will try to create jobs. The mayor-elect said he will try to keep taxes from rising. He also promised to reduce crime.

Pratt and Barrett agreed on many issues. But Pratt suffered a setback the week before the election. Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann issued five charges against Pratt.

McCann charged Pratt with five civil charges for violating campaign finance laws. Civil charges are not as serious as criminal charges.

Pratt quickly agreed to pay a fine of $2,500. But Pratt's supporters complained the charges and their timing were an effort to influence the election.

Barrett is a former member of Congress. He served in the House of Representatives for 10 years. Barrett ran for governor in 2002. But Jim Doyle beat Barrett in the Democratic primary. Doyle went on to win election.

Barrett is an attorney. He has worked for a Milwaukee law firm for the last year. During the campaign, Pratt claimed Barrett was a professional politician who needed a job. Barrett tried to make Pratt look like a person who could not handle money well.

County voted to keep Scott Walker

Voters on April 6 also picked a county executive for Milwaukee County. Incumbent Scott Walker won a four-year term. Walker beat David Riemer. Walker is a former State Representative. He won a recall election in 2002. The person who was county executive in 2002 was removed from office before the end of his term.

Walker got 136,203 votes. Riemer received 101,980 voters. Walker had 57 percent of the vote. The other 43 percent went to Riemer.

Walker won all of the suburbs in the county except Shorewood. In the city of Milwaukee, Walker got 52 percent of the vote.

Riemer was making his first run for elected office. Riemer served 14 years as a member of Norquist's staff. Governor Doyle appointed Riemer as state budget director in 2003. 

Source:  Adapted from articles in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel