With 58% of the vote in, Johnson led challenger and Wisconsin God Squad founder David King with 77% of the vote to King’s 22%. Absentee ballots had yet to be counted.
The win was expected. In a break with recent elections, the first-term mayor did not face any challenger with previous experience in office or with a comparable campaign war chest or public platform in this spring’s elections.
He easily took first place a three-way primary with 86% of the vote. King received 10%.
The win will afford Johnson a full four-year term in office.
In April 2022, Johnson was elected to fill the remaining two years on the term of former Mayor Tom Barrett, who had resigned to become ambassador to Luxembourg. Johnson’s win made him the first elected Black mayor in the city’s history.
In the subsequent two years, he was able to notch a number of achievements.
Among them was the deal brokered by city and Milwaukee County leaders with the state to allow the two governments to implement or raise their local sales taxes, respectively.
The deal, known as Act 12, helped the city and county avoid looming budget cliffs but it also came with fiscal and non-fiscal restrictions targeting the city in particular.
Johnson was also able to claim the city’s agreement to host this summer’s Republican National Convention that will put an international spotlight on the city and the Milwaukee Brewers stadium deal the city and county reached with the state.
Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson wins second term in office
