Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson blends both change and tradition

The breakthrough lastly got here. After a long time of publicity to high-profile Black politicians, from Vel Phillips to Marvin Pratt, Milwaukee voters elected our first African-American mayor. In a metropolis that has been majority minority for the reason that Nineties, an individual of colour lastly holds the neighborhood’s highest workplace.

Cavalier Johnson’s landslide win within the April 5 mayoral race was certifiably historic, however not completely on racial grounds. It was additionally a victory for youth. At 35, Johnson is probably not the freshest face to occupy the mayor’s workplace, however he’s shut. Solely 4 of his elected predecessors had been youthful on the time they took the oath: James Cross (simply over 35 in 1855), Dan Hoan (barely 35 in 1916), Carl Zeidler (32 in 1940), and Sherburn Becker (29 in 1906). Becker was a one-term marvel who lives on in native lore because the “boy mayor.”

Editorial:Cavalier Johnson’s election is a mark of progress for all of Milwaukee. However pressing challenges are simply forward.

Few politicians in any interval can declare a extra meteoric rise than Cavalier Johnson. He received his first elective workplace simply six years in the past, changing into the Second District’s alderman in 2016. Cobbling collectively a slim majority of votes, he turned the Frequent Council’s president in 2020, which put him in precisely the proper place on the good time. When Tom Barrett introduced his departure for Luxembourg final yr, Johnson turned appearing mayor and the moment front-runner to fill the rest of Barrett’s time period.

His character did the remainder. I served with Chevy Johnson on the Milwaukee Public Library Board shortly after he turned an alderman. I recall him as deliberate, articulate, and something however confrontational. These qualities shone by on the marketing campaign path. Johnson positioned himself as a peaceful presence in a time of bombast, a conciliatory determine in an age of division. If you’d like flashy, look elsewhere. Not in contrast to the town he now leads, the brand new mayor resembles a Chevy Cavalier way more than a Chevrolet Corvette.

In an extended view, Johnson’s win places at the very least a brief bookend on one of the extraordinary durations within the historical past of American municipal authorities. Milwaukee has a well-publicized penchant for mayoral tenures that appear like geological epochs, politically talking. The town has had solely eight elected chief executives within the final 106 years, and that features Johnson.

The elder statesman of the bunch was Henry Maier with 28 years in workplace (1960 to 1988), adopted by Daniel Hoan with 24 (1916 to 1940), Tom Barrett with almost 18 (2004 to 2021), John Norquist with nearly 16 (1988 to 2003), and Frank Zeidler with 12 (1948 to 1960). Stability is one in all Milwaukee’s enduring values. So long as the wheels of metropolis authorities flip with a minimal of friction, we’re inclined to stay with what we all know.

Extra:Why did Milwaukee elect its first Black mayor a long time after different cities?

A sample much less acquainted however simply as noteworthy is the predominance of open seats in our mayoral historical past. Dan Hoan was Milwaukee’s solely sitting chief govt to lose an election within the final 106 years; everybody else served for so long as he cared to after which retired or moved on to different pursuits.

Hoan’s defeat was one of many nice upsets in twentieth-century politics in Milwaukee. Throughout his 24 years as mayor, the Socialist warhorse had remodeled the town, which had an extended historical past of corruption in excessive locations, right into a mannequin of excellent authorities. Time Journal put Hoan on its cowl in 1936 and known as him “one of many nation’s ablest public servants.”

A challenger, nevertheless, emerged from inside Metropolis Corridor: Carl Zeidler, a charismatic younger assistant metropolis legal professional who mounted what many think about Milwaukee’s first trendy political marketing campaign. It was quick on substance however lengthy on type, emphasizing Zeidler’s blonde beauty, agreeable singing voice, and standing as the town’s most eligible bachelor.

On the uncommon events when he did focus on ideology, the candidate was not afraid to interact in redbaiting. When requested why he had entered the mayoral race, Carl Zeidler replied, “I needed to assist free the folks of Milwaukee from the shackles of Socialism…. So I turned a candidate, preventing in opposition to the implantation of overseas ‘isms’ and un-American ideas in america.”

Such statements should have created some stress in Carl’s household circle; his youthful brother, Frank, had already emerged as a frontrunner of the town’s fading Socialist motion.

Voters selected youth over expertise in 1940, handing Carl Zeidler a 53% to 47% victory. Dan Hoan, satisfied that the Socialist occasion had run its electoral course, went on to marketing campaign unsuccessfully for governor on the Democratic ticket in 1944 and 1946, and in time he turned one of many state occasion’s most outstanding figures.

Though Carl Zeidler had nice potential for larger workplace, his political profession ended after solely two years within the mayor’s chair. He went off to conflict in 1942 as commander of the gunnery crew on a U.S. service provider vessel and by no means got here again, the sufferer of a German submarine assault within the south Atlantic.

John Bohn, as Frequent Council president, accomplished the final half of Zeidler’s tenure and received a caretaker time period of his personal in 1944 earlier than retiring. Each mayor since then has competed for an open seat. All emerged from crowded fields with some high quality that set him aside from his rivals.

In 1948, Frank Zeidler had title recognition and a stable document on the Milwaukee College Board. (He additionally successfully combated the standard redbaiting. When one opponent charged that Zeidler would socialize each nook grocery retailer in Milwaukee, the candidate went out and acquired the endorsement of the Impartial Neighborhood Grocers Affiliation.)

In 1960, Henry Maier ran on his document as a state senator and one of many builders of the trendy Democratic Celebration. In 1988, John Norquist, one other state senator, was the standard-bearer of a youth motion. (He’s now 72.) In 2004, Tom Barrett was the seasoned hand, with expertise on each the state and nationwide ranges. And in 2022, Cavalier Johnson was the breakthrough candidate by advantage of each his race and his age.

For the primary time in 18 years, Milwaukee has a brand new chief govt. Will Johnson proceed the venerable native custom and turn into one other multi-term mayor? That, in fact, is a massively open query, however there is no such thing as a doubt that we now have entered new political territory. One facet impact of Milwaukee’s epic mayoral tenures is that each transition seems like a brand new starting. Chevy Johnson represents one other recent begin, however, for all of the emphasis on the historic nature of his win, he’s additionally the voice of custom.

Claiming victory on election night time, Johnson mentioned, “We wish our metropolis to be loving, nurturing, and steady. That’s why I ran for mayor.” Is there a single Milwaukeean who wouldn’t endorse these sentiments? They’ve been amongst our neighborhood’s core values for generations, with particular emphasis on “steady.”

As a brand new time period and a brand new day start, the challenges are apparent, however so are the alternatives. Better of luck, Chevy. Could the breadth of your political items and the depth of your dedication allow you to safeguard the very best of the previous Milwaukee and information us to the promise of the brand new.

John Gurda writes a column on native historical past for the Concepts Lab on the primary Sunday of each month. Electronic mail: mail@johngurda.com