A lot has changed since Milwaukee elected a Socialist mayor. Could there be renewed interest?
Drake BentleyWith a rare open mayoral race in Milwaukee on the horizon, and with changing views nationwide about what forms of government best serve the public, a possibility has emerged that would, at the very least, intrigue history buffs.
Would Milwaukee, which had the last Socialist mayor in the United States six decades ago, embrace another one?
Frank Zeidler, who was the last of three Socialist mayors elected in Milwaukee, held the top job at City Hall from 1948 to 1960. No other American city of Milwaukee's size elected three Socialist mayors.
Now, two factors are at play that would make it possible for a credible run for office, in the wake of longtime Mayor Tom Barrett's nomination to become ambassador to Luxembourg.
The first is that no candidate has been able to make a dent in Barrett's hold on the job, and with him leaving, the field could be crowded. Common Council President Cavalier "Chevy" Johnson will become acting mayor whenever Barrett's nomination is confirmed, and he says he will run for the permanent job.
Johnson has filed a Campaign Finance Registration Statement with the election commission. Former Ald. Bob Donovan and Nicholas McVey have also filed an intent to run.
Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas has indicated his intention to enter the race.
Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic has said she's excited to consider the position. State Rep. David Bowen told a local television station that it's "something to consider," but also said in a tweet that he is focused on getting other Democrats elected. State Sen. Lena Taylor — who ran against Barrett in 2020 — said it's "not off the table."
State Reps. Daniel Riemer and Chris Larson as well as Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski have also expressed interest in vying for the job.
Gov. Tony Evers has said he believes it will be a big field, and he's not alone. The more candidates, the greater the chance for the vote to be divided multiple ways. The more divided the vote, the more possible it becomes for a dark horse candidate to get some traction.
The second factor is the dramatic change in political philosophy in recent years.
More:Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett nominated to be ambassador to Luxembourg by President Biden
A June Axios/Momentive poll found that while the country overall still embraced capitalism, it had fallen dramatically in the eyes of young adults. People ages 18 to 34 were almost evenly split on having a positive or negative view of capitalism, whereas two years ago the gap was 20 percentage points in favor of a "positive view."
Among adults ages 18 to 24, 54% had a negative view of capitalism, the poll found. Even young Republicans, ages 18 to 34, showed a 15% decline in positive views of capitalism from 2019.
The Axios/Momentive poll showed many similarities to earlier polls. A September 2020 Hill-HarrisX poll reported that 56% of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism and 53% of Democrats said the same of capitalism, which is within the margin of error and statistically a tie.
And a February 2020 NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that Democrats are open to the idea of socialism.
The Democratic Socialists of America count among its members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman of New York, all of whom serve as Democrats in the U.S. House. In the U.S. Senate, socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont has made two strong runs for president, although he is not a member of DSA.
Further, DSA member India Walton is set to become the next mayor of Buffalo, New York, after defeating incumbent Byron Brown in the Democratic primary in June. Brown has vowed to remain in the race and is attempting to get his name on the ballot for the November general election. Walton would become the first Socialist mayor of a major American city since Zeidler.
No stranger to 'David vs. Goliath' races
Tom Hansberger, committee chairman of the Milwaukee chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, said no decisions have been made about the mayoral race.
After the publication of this article, Milwaukee DSA sent the Journal Sentinel a statement, which can be found in full here.
Hansberger said the organization has been discussing internally the idea of running a candidate in the mayoral race but said any decisions wouldn't be announced until it is put to a vote of its membership.
"I don't know that we are going to run in the mayoral race," Hansberger said. "We haven't made a decision on that. And we'll only decide to run if we think that we have a good candidate who can get our message across and win the election."
Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy is a member of DSA and has been mentioned by some as a mayoral candidate, but he told the Journal Sentinel that "there are no such announcements currently scheduled."
Hansberger said the organization is no stranger to "David vs. Goliath sort of runs."
"And I think that's what we would expect, running against candidates who are likely to be better funded than our candidates," he said. "But DSA believes in organized people more than organized money, and we think that we can win."
Earlier this year, the Milwaukee chapter endorsed two candidates for school board and one for County Board. All three lost, although county board candidate Darrin Madison Jr. lost his race for County Board to Priscilla Coggs-Jones by just 12 votes.
From 'cesspool' to well-governed city
Milwaukee voters elected the first Socialist to the U.S. House of Representatives, Victor Berger in 1910. The three Socialist mayors were Emil Seidel (1910-1912), Daniel Hoan (1916-1940) and Zeidler (1948-1960).
The mayors were dubbed "sewer socialists," a pejorative label that came to be embraced because something like a working sewer system was exactly the type of public infrastructure work they were fighting for.
Sewer socialists are credited with building up much of the city's public features, including developing the first Department of Public Works, Fire and Police Commission, public housing, taking steps to improve the drinking water and freeway expansion.
"Socialists turned Milwaukee from an open cesspool of corruption into one of the best-governed cities in the United States," said Milwaukee historian John Gurda. "Their guiding star is what they called public enterprise and that meant working for public parks, public schools, public libraries, public housing ... anything and everything to increase the quality of life for the working population of Milwaukee."
The party does have some embarrassing history.
Victor Berger was a racist who considered Black people inferior and opposed Asian immigration.
But by 1956, Zeidler was such a proponent of civil rights that rumors circulated he was posting billboards in the South urging Black people to move north to take advantage of public housing and social welfare policies.
"One thing that's really exciting about the contemporary socialist movement is that it's better on issues of race, gender, inclusivity," Hansberger said. "That's an area we've built on and we're always working to show that. What we need is a movement of the multiracial working class of working people, regardless of their background."
Hansberger said the strongest bond between today's socialists and sewer socialism is wanting to organize a broad base of working people.
"Several things that we have in common with those older socialists is wanting to build better public goods and infrastructure for Milwaukee residents ... things like bringing We Energies into public ownership, making sure that everyone has access to affordable electricity and utilities. It's things like supporting lead remediation to get the lead out of our pipes, and it's other projects that would make the life of ordinary Milwaukeeans better."
Contact Drake Bentley at (414) 391-5647 or DBentley1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DrakeBentleyMJS.
