Hot Takes on Milwaukee County Board
There are 18 County Board Supervisors in Milwaukee, and only three declared candidates running to replace any of them (Stacy Smiter, Maqsood Kahn, LeeVan Roundtree). Tuesday January 6 is the deadline to submit signatures and start running. We are hoping more people, especially more left populists and socialists get in this race.
Here we list the supervisors and provide very brief summaries. We present them in order of priority for mounting a challenge from the left. We’re factoring in both the utility of moving the seat left, and the viability of a socialist victory. These are admittedly hot takes, and we would love to hear other opinions!
Top priorities:
These are the districts that are either easy to win, or important to take from centrist or conservative supervisors who are sitting on districts that might support actual socialists.
Jack Eckblad (district 4)
Eckblad is vulnerable both because he is new to office, and because he politically hews to the right of his district. District 4 provided outspoken socialist Ryan Clancy with support needed to push a socialist agenda, as we described elsewhere. Eckblad is instead voting with us under pressure to inure himself with Bay View activists. He took credit for temporarily protecting Ryan Clancy’s right to council, and even has some Milwaukee DSA members out collecting signatures for him. At the same time, he’s hustling to deepen connections with the political establishment, but residents are complaining about his lack of community engagement and responsiveness.
Unfortunately, no one has declared against him this cycle. If he goes unchallenged, he’ll get more comfortable being his corporate self and start voting against the activists he’s currently appeaseing out of fear. Replacing Eckblad before he settles in is essential!
Sheldon Wasserman (district 3)
Wasserman is a rich doctor, married to a slumlord, and a rabid zionist.
District 3 includes the East Side, home of many wealthy elites, but most are more liberal than Wasserman. It also includes far more renters and students. Socialists challenged Wasserman in 2022 and 2024. They lost mainly because of Wasserman’s long incumbency both at the county, and in the assembly from 1995-2008. This year could be different, especially for an aggressive campaign focused on Wasserman’s most odious qualities. The East Side certainly deserves, and would support someone far to Wasserman’s left. Let’s never let this genocide denier go unchallenged in Milwaukee County.
LeeVan Roundtree running in Open Seat (district 5)
Sequanna Taylor is leaving the county board after her move to State Assembly district 11. This means her seat is open. Taylor was a reliable left vote on the board, and the district rewarded her. Currently, only one candidate has declared, LeeVan Roundtree. He’s a fashion designer who teaches art at Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy, a charter school named after a key player in the attack on public education in Milwaukee. Not a great sign. An open seat in a left-leaning district presents a great opportunity for a socialist candidate!
Willie Johnson Jr (district 2)
Johnson Jr is a former social worker, but often votes like a wannabe cop. He’s been on the board ever since 2000, but also frequently dozes off during committee meetings and only barely lives in his district after it was redrawn to protect a seat for him. District 2 is long, stretching from Brown Deer, to the north east corner of Riverwest (where Johnson Jr lives). Socialist candidate Amillia Heredia was running against him, but sadly, she had to walk away from the race due to health and family troubles. Socialists would love to help someone pick up Heredia’s torch to replace this 26 year do-little tradition with a strong agenda-setter.
Stacy Smiter v Felesia Martin (district 7)
Martin is a former teacher who has been pretty inactive on the county board since 2018, she ran unopposed in the last three cycles. Martin finally has a challenger: Stacy Smiter, a long time resident and realtor who is running on affordable housing and government accountability. District 7 starts north of Sherman Park up to McGovern Park. Of the declared candidates, Smiter is the most interesting from a left populist perspective.
Sky Capriolo (district 15)
Capriolo is vulnerable because she is new to the county board, and to Milwaukee. She’s a former Chicago TV news reporter who ran unopposed when Peter Burgelis left for a seat on Milwaukee Common Council. District 15 includes West Milwaukee, part of West Allis, and some adjacent Milwaukee neighborhoods. Someone with more history in Milwaukee would likely win and better represent and defend working people in this district, but thus far no one has declared.
Potentially interesting:
These districts would likely support someone to the left of the current supervisor, but are likely harder to win.
Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell (district 10)
Nicholson-Bovell claims an activist background, but serves Milwaukee’s corporate and business elites, while also serving herself on the tax payer’s dime. District 10 spans from Sherman Park to Downtown. Nicholson has been unopposed there since 2018. Challenging her would require directly taking on the entire local political establishment, but, after repeated audits showed her misspending county money, there may be a pathway to victory against her.
As board chair, Nicholson has a lot of power filling the committees and setting the agenda for the entire board. If this election continues tilting the board left, we could see her replacement.
Deanna Alexander (district 18)
Alexander is a wildcard. She calls herself a libertarian, but is not consistent about it. For example, she opposes torturous conditions in the jail, but also sides with forced birth and pro-police conservatives. District 18, the northwest corner of the county is unlikely to support a socialist firebrand, but on many issues Alexander is far to the right of her constituents.
She’s also vulnerable. She actually lost the seat in 2020 to Russel Goodwin (and last year lost an assembly race against him), but then regained it in 2022 in a multi-candidate write-in race because Goodwin failed to properly file.
Shawn Rolland (district 6)
Rolland loves to complain about fiscal responsibility when social programs or protections for working people are on the line, but forgets to care when corporate handouts or the bloated sheriff’s budget comes up. District 6 is mostly Wauwatosa, a city trying to escape its reputation as a sundown town. They could do better than Rolland, but he’s been unchallenged since he won the seat in 2020.
Low priority:
The bottom part of this list are either supervisors who are already solidly left and don’t much need replacement, or are conservative and represent districts where socialists would have a hard go of it.
Priscilla Coggs-Jones (district 13)
Coggs-Jones has a good voting record, and we would certainly put her in the left camp, but as we described recently, Milwaukee County needs left supervisors who go beyond to push transformative legislation. District 13 includes Riverwest, Harambee, and Brewer’s Hill. More than anyone else in the left camp, Coggs-Jones’ district would support a supervisor who takes more risks. For that reason, Coggs-Jones might actually be higher on this list, except she’s part of Milwaukee’s very influential Coggs political dynasty. Running against her would likely be very difficult for a relatively small gain.
Kathleen Vincent (district 11)
Vincent has been on the Glendale school board since 2017, and county board since 2022. She seems to always be trying to side with the establishment majority. It will take hard work to elect a great replacement for Vincent in suburban district 11.
Anne O’Connor (district 1)
O’Connor might be the inverse of Coggs-Jones. Both are on the left without being agenda setters, but district 1 includes the north shore suburbs. Some very rich people up there would surely recruit and back a replacement if O’Connor got too active. On the other hand, running against her would be easier because she is new to the board in 2024.
Caroline Gomez-Tom (district 14)
Gomez-Tom comes from a social work and public health background. Like O’Connor, she has been a reliable ally to socialism. District 14 extends south from Walker’s Point to Morgandale, this area likely rests between district 1 and 13 in terms of supporting a socialist agenda setter, but Gomez-Tom has been in office and active in local party politics longer than O’Connor.
Dr Maqsood Khan v Patti Logsdon (district 9)
Logsdon is a bootlicking pro-police reactionary. District 9 is Milwaukee County’s southeast corner, including Hales Corners and half of Greenfield and Franklin. The area is unlikely to favor liberals, let alone socialists, but Logsdon combines far right ideology with wild ignorance and ineptitude. She was nearly defeated last cycle and is currently facing an aggressive challenge from Dr Maqsood Khan. Khan is also conservative, but will at least provide some representation for the county’s Muslim community.
Steve Taylor (district 17)
Taylor is another consistent reactionary, who defines himself in opposition to socialism. He represents the other half of Franklin, and Oak Creek. He ran unopposed last two cycles, but is corrupt and widely disliked. It’s hard to imagine that district electing anyone much better, though.
Steven Shea (district 8)
Shea, like the other leftists at the bottom of this list, has a good voting record, but doesn’t push the envelope very much. District 8 covers the lake shore south of Bay View, including conservative suburbanites. We’re unlikely to elect someone who better represents them than Shea.
Juan Miguel Martinez (district 12)
Martinez ran as a working class socialist in 2022 and won. Martinez has fought for immigrants, activists, incarcerated people, and the Mitchell Park Domes in his tenure. He’s not been as bold as Clancy was, but District 12 (Menomonee Valley, Burnham Park, Jackson Park) is also not as supportive of a radical firebrand as Bay View or Riverwest.
Justin Bielinski (district 16)
Bielinski has probably been the most courageous advocate of left populist ideas on the board since Clancy left, publicly criticising the sheriff, hosting a jail audit forum, and strongly advocating in committee meetings. District 16 includes most of West Allis and the County Zoo, not an area known for leftism. Its hard to imagine electing someone better there.
