Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is a true son of the city. He grew up in 53206 (notoriously the poorest ZIP code in Wisconsin), experiencing hunger and having to move almost every year during elementary school. But he took advantage of every club and self-improvement program around and entered politics at an early age. Still only 39, he’s already served as mayor for four years.
Johnson was the first Black man elected mayor in the city’s history (there still hasn’t been a woman mayor). Turnover is rare; he’s only the fifth mayor elected in Milwaukee since 1948. He inherited a sizable structural deficit, which he’s managed to bring down largely by convincing the Legislature to allow localities to raise sales taxes. He wasn’t alone in that effort but his diligence — sleeping on a "cot in the Capitol,” as he says — paid off.
Along with finances, public safety has been his biggest concern. He hasn’t solved Milwaukee’s crime problems — and contract negotiations with the police union dragged on for three years before entering arbitration this fall — but the overall crime rate is down 25 percent since he took office.
