Milwaukee County executive, board supervisors face election challengers
Milwaukee's County Executive David Crowley will no longer be running unopposed this spring election cycle, after frequent political candidate Ieshuh Griffin made it last minute onto the ballot.
In October, Crowley announced he was seeking a second, four-year term, after notching winning approval of a 0.4% sales tax bump and an increase in state shared revenue last year, as well as pushing for investments in mental health services, transit and housing.
"When I first ran for this seat, one of my priorities was focused on getting Milwaukee County back on that fiscal footing that we needed," Crowley previously told the Journal Sentinel. "That's what we've been able to do within the past three years. Knowing that we've gotten all this done, within my first term, I still believe that there's so much work to do."
The Crowley campaign declined to comment about Griffin running against him.
Griffin, who ran against Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and five others in a seven-way race for mayor in 2022, is also running for mayor again in addition to two Milwaukee aldermanic seats (districts 3 and 15).
"I call David Crowley just a smiler. All he does is smile," Griffin told the Journal Sentinel. "They don't address the real issues that are going on."
Griffin's committee name is "The Poor People's Piece of the Pie Campaign."
"I'm of the community, for the community, by he community and about the community. That's something he (David Crowley) is not," she said. "I'm ready to make change by breaking the chains."
This head-to-head matchup join races in the Milwaukee area in the Feb. 20 primary election and April 2 general election, including multiple seats on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the City of Milwaukee's Common Council as well as Milwaukee mayor and city attorney.
A then-two-term legislator, Crowley beat out state Sen. Chris Larson and was sworn into office on May 4, 2020, outside of his home and with spectators masked and social distancing at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
He succeeded former County Executive Chris Abele, who announced his departure from office after nine years. Abele invested $767,000 into ads and mailers for Crowley's 2020 campaign.
Crowley recently signed off on a $1.37 billion recommended 2024 budget in November, which say investments in county services compared to cuts seen in years prior.
"I just want folks to know that we're keeping Milwaukee County residents at the heart of every decision that we make," Crowley told the Journal Sentinel following his announcement seeking re-election.
Griffin has run consistently for various offices over the years, and previously ran for state Assembly in 2010 under the slogan, “NOT the whiteman’s bitch."
Possible battle for Milwaukee County Comptroller
For now, current County Supervisor Liz Sumner, who is not seeking re-election for her seat on the County Board, is the sole candidate for the county's comptroller after Scott Manske announced he would not re-run for his position in October of last year.
Michael S. Harper, who filed to run against Sumner, has yet to be certified for ballot placement following flagged deficiencies in his paperwork. He could not be reached for comment.
"When we're looking to determine the sufficiency of the signatures on the nomination pages there are certain mandatory fields and the jurisdiction is one of them and that box was left blank on his nomination papers," Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County's elections director, told the Journal Sentinel.
Harper has until Friday to submit his statement of economic interests, according to Milwaukee County ordinances.
Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors sees multiple races
The Jan. 2 deadline saw a flood of potential new candidates running for seats on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, which previously saw a handful of supervisory incumbents running unopposed.
Supervisors Liz Sumner, Ryan Clancy, Peter Burgelis, Anthony Staskunas are not seeking re-elections.
Seven of the positions on the County Board have multiple candidates running in primary election.
District 1: Anne O'Connor, co-founder of Bay Bridge, a Whitefish Bay organization that works to raise awareness about racial and cultural bias, is the lone candidate seeking to replace Sumner.
District 3: Incumbent Sheldon A. Wasserman is facing a challenge from public defender Alexander Kostal.
District 4: Advocate Ronald Jansen and community organizer Jack Eckblad are seeking the seat that will be vacated by Ryan Clancy, who is also a state representative.
District 9: Real estate agent Danelle Kenney filed papers to run against incumbent Patti Logsdon.
District 15: Sky Z. Capriolo, a senior marketing manager, was the lone candidate seeking the seat being vacated by Burgelis, who is running for Common Council.
District 16: Justin Bielinski, communications director for state Sen. Chris Larson, was the lone candidate for the seat being vacated by Anthony J. Staskunas.
District 18: Two people have filed papers to challenge incumbent Deanna Alexander. They are teacher and community organizer John Martin "Marty" Hagedorn and Citizen Action of Wisconsin organizer Brandon Williford. Alexander has until Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. to submit her statement of economic interests to formally be certified for ballot placement. A Feb. 20 primary will narrow the field to two.
Deficiencies flagged in paperwork for County Board candidates
Three districts could see a face-off between the supervisory incumbent and their opponent.
District 12's Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez could face Ryan Antczak, who ran for election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 9, but lost in the general election on Nov. 8, 2022. He ran as a Republican.
However, his paperwork was flagged by county staff.
"He completed the paperwork on partisan nomination paperwork forms and this is a nonpartisan office," Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson told the Journal Sentinel. "That's a deficiency identified by my staff and we're seeking to receive direction from the (Elections) Commission regarding ballot access."
The County's elections commission will be reviewing his paperwork Jan. 5 in order to determine his ballot placement for the election.
Supervisor Steve F. Taylor, who until recently failed to disclose his employment in his ethics filings, could also face a challenger, Andrew Matias.
Matias, however, also flubbed on his nomination paperwork. Records show that the circulator had signed the paperwork on an earlier date than the nomination signatures.
"There are a handful of circumstances where deficiencies can be cured with an affidavit," Hawley said.
Matias has until Friday to submit an affidavit to cure those signatures.
To date, Matias has 174 valid signatures, 26 short of the required minimum to get ballot placement.
The issue has not been brought to the Elections Commission as of yet unless Taylor issues a challenge, Christenson said.
Caroline Gómez-Tom, who has represented District 14 since May, could be challenged by a familiar face, Angel Sanchez, who also ran against her in the special election to fill the seat.
The special election called after Dyango Zerpa resigned in January following series of concerns about his attendance at County Board and committee meetings, questions about his campaign finance reports and his firing as a state legislative aide.
Gómez-Tom carried 66% of the vote over Sanchez, according to unofficial results.
In 2000, Sanchez served one term as a Milwaukee alderman and has also made several conservative challenges for seats on the city's Common Council, the state Assembly and state Senate.
Sanchez has until Friday to file his statement of economic interests.
For now, incumbents who are potentially running unopposed include: the board's longest-serving supervisor, Willie Johnson, Jr., in District 2; Sequanna Taylor in District 5; Shawn Rolland in District 6; Felesia Martin in District 7; Steve Shea in District 8; Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson in District 10; Kathleen Vincent in District 11; and Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones in District 13.
Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or at vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on X @Vanessa_Swales.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: David Crowley, County Board supervisors face election challengers
