Holloway Channels Pratt

In some respects, the race for Milwaukee County Executive seems like a replay of another election.  Mayor John Norquist resigned in January, 2004, and was succeeded  (on an interim basis) by the black leader of the Common Council, Marvin Pratt, who then sought the office in the  spring  election.

County Executive Scott Walker resigned in January of this year, and was succeeded  (on an interim basis) by Lee Holloway, the black leader of the County Board, who is now seeking the office in a special election.

But there is a twist: under state law, the Chairman of the County Board  appoints  a new Executive to serve until the election.  He can appoint himself; but if he does, he must relinquish his seat on the County Board.  Holloway, in  a master political move, has  appointed  former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt to  this position.   This choice  should virtually guarantee that Holloway will  be a finalist for the job on April 5.   Let's look at a little history:

As alderman, Marvin Pratt was never a racially polarizing figure, like  his colleague   Ald.  Michael McGee  (senior or junior, take your pick.)  He was known as a conciliator, which is how he became  President of the Common Council.  But  as a candidate for Mayor, he used the ambiguous slogan  "It's Time" ,  which presumably meant  "It's time that Milwaukee had a black mayor."   With massive black support, Pratt finished first in the  10-person primary, with 38%  percent of the vote.  Former US  Rep. Tom Barrett came in second, with 32.6%. (1)

Although neither candidate "played the race card" in the  hotly-contested  general election campaign,  a  geographical analysis of the  vote  shows that the contest was highly polarized along racial lines.  For example,  in the  overwhelmingly black Sixth District, Pratt garnered  89% of the vote, while in the  white  Eleventh  District, Barrett took nearly 88.5%.   Barrett won that contest with  86,493 votes (53.5%)  over Pratt, who  received  74,361 votes (46%).  (The other 0.5% of the vote went to write-ins.)

By appointing Pratt  as interim Executive,  Holloway is  capitalizing on Pratt's  popularity with the  African-American population of the City, no doubt expecting that it will rub off on  him in the crucial February 15th primary.  Although there is another black on the ballot in that election by the name of  Ieusha  Griffin (2),  the Pratt connection should be enough to solidify the black vote behind him. 

About 60% of the population of Milwaukee County  lives in the City of Milwaukee, and about  40% of City residents are black, so  African-Americans constitute nearly 25% of the population of Milwaukee County.   If they turn-out on Feb. 15 in the same proportion as whites  (about  35% in my estimation),  and they are solid for Holloway,  he could sail through the    5-candidate primary on  the strength of their support.  My guess is that  Chris Abele will take  the other spot on the general election ballot  with humongous spending on TV ads, which no one else can afford to match.

But unless Holloway can generate  major support from  the County's   Caucasian  voters, he will face a very difficult uphill battle  on April 5.   And for that,  his alignment with Marvin Pratt will not help.
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(1)  Milwaukee Election Commission  Report:  2004-2005.

(2)  After losing her court battle to be identified on the  ballot for State Representative as "Not the White Man's Bitch", she   received only  7% of the vote in November, 2010.