Stronger, Together: Announcing my Candidacy for the 21st Assembly District

On Tuesday, I was humbled and honored to be sworn in for a third term as South Milwaukee’s mayor. Especially now, in these unprecedented times, it is a privilege to lead this city, working together to invest in key areas and continue to build our promising future, leading a great team, and partnering to navigate through a pandemic. 

We are stronger, together — a fundamental belief I also want to take to the State Capitol. 

That is why I am proud today to announce my candidacy for the 21st Assembly District, with a plan to remain as mayor if and when I win in November. 

You can learn more on my campaign website and Facebook page. 

I am running for Assembly to unite, not divide — as someone who sees compromise as the solution, not the problem. 

I am running as someone who has done just that as South Milwaukee’s mayor.

Madison is broken, more polarized by partisanship than ever before. From the partisan games played with every biennial budget … to lame duck session power grabs … to the inaction on key issues like transportation, education and health … to the lack of leadership shown as we voted amid a pandemic, and the discord we’re seeing as we look to reopen the economy … our legislature is not working for you. Often, it’s not working at all. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. 

South Milwaukee, Oak Creek and Franklin deserve better. You deserve someone who will build bridges to address the big issues facing our state, especially now, as we navigate through a health crisis and begin to assess what the “new normal” should look like in Wisconsin.

It’s simple: Again, we are stronger, together. I have brought that philosophy to life as South Milwaukee mayor, where we have united people to move our city forward in many ways, with an even more promising future ahead. 

It’s my job to work with others to get things done, and I will bring that to the Capitol. 

I run as a moderate candidate who will stand for you and have the courage to move beyond partisan talking points toward real positive change.

I will stand for you as a husband, father of two, youth basketball coach and local leader with strong roots in the Milwaukee area and South Shore. I will stand for you as a small business owner, community volunteer, and lover of this state.

I will stand for investments in schools and cities, making sure they have what they need to invest in the services that touch people every day. A lot of times, that means getting the state the heck out of the way, and restoring local control the legislature has taken from communities in big and small ways for more than a decade. 

It means giving communities more flexibility to fund our first responders, public works crews, public health workers, libraries, and other services — and increasing our ability to fix local roads and invest in utilities and other critical infrastructure. It also means giving our first-class South Milwaukee, Oak Creek and Franklin schools the tools and funding flexibility they need to educate our kids and serve the community in these incredibly challenging times.

I will stand for smart investments in areas like public safety, public education, health, economic development, transportation, a strong safety net, and more. We’ll do that while ensuring the state is a good steward of taxpayer (your) money, just as we’ve done in South Milwaukee for years. And as a career communications professional, I will stand for transparency, making sure you are engaged every step of the way. 

I will also stand against business as usual in Madison, where politics has become a zero-sum game, and “if I’m right, you are not only wrong, you must also be shouted down and ridiculed because of it.” I will stand against lawmakers looking to score political points — sometimes, and shamefully, in the middle of a crisis — instead of actually moving our state forward. 

Those days of dysfunction must end, and it starts in the 21st Assembly District. It starts November 3.

Our best days are ahead of us. There is a better way. Let’s deliver it, together.