Barrett Wins Fifth Term as Milwaukee Mayor

County residents also overwhelmingly support establishing a fair maps commission

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett handily won a fifth term at the helm of Wisconsin’s largest city, according to results reported Monday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Barrett defeated longtime state Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, 63 percent to 37 percent. While Barrett won by a landslide, it was his lowest share of the vote in any of his re-elections. He had never won with less than 70 percent. 

“Being your Mayor is the honor of a lifetime,” Barrett said in a brief statement. “In these difficult times, I will work tirelessly to lift up every neighborhood in our city.”

Taylor would have been the first woman to serve as mayor and the first elected black mayor if she had won. In the mid-2000s, Marvin Pratt was the first black mayor and county executive, but he was not elected. He served as an acting mayor and interim county executive.

“I just want to thank y’all so much,” Taylor told supporters in a Facebook livestream.

She added, “We did it. We fought the fight. … I am extremely excited about what we did. There is no shame in the game.”

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, State Rep. David Crowley, D-Milwaukee, held a narrow advantage of about 1,000 votes over state Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, in the race for Milwaukee County Executive as of 8:30 p.m. Journal Sentinel political watchdog Dan Bice tweeted that there were about 17,000 absentee votes left to be logged, some by hand, in Milwaukee suburbs Wauwatosa and Franklin.

Crowley would be the first black elected county executive if he wins.

Milwaukee County voters also overwhelmingly voted in support of a non-binding referendum to establish a fair, nonpartisan maps commission for redistricting the state, something Gov. Tony Evers is a vocal support of. The referendum was approved by nearly 140,000, or 80 percent of voters.