Milwaukee Ald. José G. Pérez becomes the city's first Latino elected Common Council president

The Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday elected District 12 Ald. José G. Pérez to serve as council president, making him the first Latino to hold the position.

He takes command of the 15-member council after his predecessor, Cavalier Johnson, was elected mayor April 5.

Pérez was the only nominee, and all 13 council members present voted for him Tuesday. Ald. Khalif Rainey was excused and the District 2 seat is open after Johnson's election on April 5.

The council's unity on Pérez's presidency stood in contrast to the unusual publicly divided vote on which Johnson was elected just two years ago.

On Tuesday, Pérez said he wanted his term to be about a shared purpose.

"I want my time as your president to be about hope, about the future," Pérez told council members in a virtual meeting Tuesday.

Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa, who nominated Pérez, said during the meeting that he had always challenged the status quo, including when he ousted longtime incumbent Ald. Jim Witkowiak to win the council seat in 2012 — no easy feat.

She said he had shown the integrity, tenacity and longevity necessary to lead the council.

And Zamarripa pointed out the historic nature of his election that comes just weeks after the city elected Johnson, its first Black mayor.

"Less than a week after so many of us personally witnessed the first elected Black mayor being sworn into office, we have the opportunity to elect the first Hispanic to one of the highest levels of our local government," she said. "This moment is not lost on me as a member of Latino community myself."

The state and Milwaukee have seen sharp growth in the Hispanic community, including in the most recent decade.

With Pérez's election on the heels of Johnson's, the top four positions in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County government are all held by people of color who are the "firsts" in their respective seats. In 2020, David Crowley became the first elected Black county executive and Marcelia Nicholson the first Latina and African American woman to lead the 18-member County Board of Supervisors.

Pérez said Johnson would find a willing partner in the council under his leadership.

He called for unity even as he noted racial divisions between Black and brown communities and Asian and Native American communities.

"These divisions are real enough," he said. "I won't deny them, knowing and feeling them firsthand, seeing them firsthand. But we must not let them take our eyes off the things that bind us together: Our shared experiences, our struggles that differ somewhat in number but not in kind."

He pointed out unemployment, incarceration, graduation rates, lack of economic opportunity and political disenfranchisement as places where gaps exist between communities of color and the white community.

In Spanish, he said he knows the community's fears and joys.

"Hold me responsible, keep me honest and please, always stay by my side and keep me in your hearts," he said in Spanish.

Pérez, 53, was born in Milwaukee and grew up on the city's near south side with his Puerto Rican mother and grandparents, according to his biography on the city's website.

He graduated from Cardinal Stritch in 1999 with a degree in political science and led the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope as the organization's executive director, according to the biography.

He started working at the city's Department of City Development in January 2006 focusing on business and real estate development and more before moving to the city's Community Development Grants Administration a few years later.

Pérez formed a firm LRG Real Estate Development LLC with a longtime friend in 2009, according to Journal Sentinel archives. The state Department of Financial Institutions lists the firm as having been dissolved in 2013.

Pérez did not immediately respond to a voicemail and text seeking comment Tuesday. A statement from the city early afternoon said he would be unavailable for media interviews Tuesday but "is expecting to have availability very soon."

Among his first tasks will be ordering special elections for Johnson's District 2 seat on the city's northwest side and the District 3 seat that encompasses the east side and Riverwest that would be vacated by Ald. Nik Kovac if he is confirmed as Johnson's new budget director.

In a statement, Johnson congratulated Pérez on his election.

“I have great respect for his work as an alderperson, and I look forward to collaborating with him to make all of Milwaukee safer and stronger,” Johnson said in a statement.

Jessica Rodriguez of the Journal Sentinel contributed.

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Ald. José Pérez first Latino to be elected council president