Bob Donovan mayor? He is headed to the general election.
Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan, who has run a public safety-focused campaign in a city dealing with skyrocketing violent crime, will face Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson in the general election.
With absentee ballots now counted, Johnson has 42% and Donovan 22%, for second place. The top two vote-getters move on to the April general election.
Donovan was in second throughout the night, but there was a bit of a nail biter when it was revealed that 23,867 absentee ballots still needed to be counted. However, once those ballots were tallied, Donovan remained in second place, although Johnson widened his lead.
The City Election Commission lists these absentee ballot totals:
Absentee ballots issued: 29,495
Absentee Ballots Returned as of 8:00pm Election Day: 23,867
Provisional Ballots: 7
There are the vote totals.
Cavalier Johnson 25,779 42%
Bob Donovan 13,742 22%
Lena C. Taylor 7,887 13%
Marina Dimitrijevic 7,521 12%
Earnell Lucas 5,886 10%
Michael Sampson 514 1%
Ieshuh Griffin 315 1%
“As mayor, I will fight for all of us,” Donovan said in his victory speech, saying he worked outside the box, forging partnerships with the faith and business communities, when he was an alderman. He said he developed a record of “getting things done.”
If given the opportunity to be mayor, Donovan said, “I pledge to you. We will get this done and get this city headed in the right direction.” He said that Johnson spent half a million dollars in the primary, outspending him 10-1. He said Johnson has the support of big-money special interests, but Donovan declared, “Who will elect the next mayor? Money or the people? I am counting on the people.”
It is contrast between a candidate, Donovan, who is a supporter of boosting community policing and restoring the strength of a depleted Milwaukee Police Department, and Johnson, who told Wisconsin Right Now he doesn’t support increasing the number of officers on the force, even though the city is, again, on pace to record historic homicide numbers.
At a recent mayoral forum, Johnson also faced blistering criticism from inner city pastors, who feel their churches are unfairly taxed by the city, from a constituent, who felt he did not hear her concerns when her house was shot up by gunfire, and from the Black Panthers group, who claim he didn’t let them into a previous town hall.
In another contrast, Donovan told Wisconsin Right Now that he is a supporter of school choice.
