Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has won election to a full term, Madison365 projects, making him the first elected Black mayor of the state’s largest city.
With 98 percent of the vote tallied, he held a commanding lead of 37,866 votes to challenger Bob Donavan’s 18,267 — roughly a two-to-one margin.
Johnson, 34, became the city’s second Black mayor in December when Tom Barrett resigned to become the United States Ambassador to Luxembourgh. Marvin Pratt served as acting mayor in 2004 when John Norquist resigned just three months before his term expired. Barrett defeated Pratt in the 2004 election for mayor and has held the office until his resignation.
“I think that Milwaukee is not only ready to elect a Black mayor, I think that Milwaukee is also looking forward to electing a mayor of a new generation,” Johnson said in an interview last summer.
Johnson is the second elected Black mayor in the state of Wisconsin. Frances Huntley Cooper was the first, elected mayor of Fitchburg in 1991.
