Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson is seeking unity between both political parties if he’s elected Mayor of Milwaukee.
Johnson, a Democrat, spoke with John Mercure during WTMJ 2022 and said he’s seeking to build a stronger relationship with the Republican party as it’s the only way to continue to “move things forward.”
Johnson said while he is a Democrat, he’s a “political realist.” Although he’ll be supporting Tony Evers’ campaign for Governor later this fall, he understands that the legislature is “currently and probably for the foreseeable future” controlled by Republicans and he doesn’t plan on ignoring that fact.
“I am in constant communication with Republican leaders on a number of issues,” Johnson said. “I’ve been working very closely with Senator Kapenga in relations to the city’s desire to have additional opportunities to raise the revenue we need to tackle the issues important to the city including public safety and our looming pension crisis…I did go and meet with Speaker Vos…about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and I will continue to do that.”
Johnson said he’s been in contact with members of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and “would love” to have the RNC held in Wisconsin, creating an opportunity to have “an infusion of economic resources.”
In regards to public safety, he said police told him they “can’t do it alone.” Throwing more police officers at the problem won’t automatically solve the issues, according to Johnson. He said we need to focus on the root cause of the issues in order to fix them. He highlighted poverty as that main cause and said it’s been leading people to violence.
“The poverty that we have in our community leads them to violence…That’s an economic issue so we need to solve that piece,” Johnson said. “We also need to make sure there are earlier interventions in the lives of our young people so they they don’t commit violent acts or steal cars. We need to make sure that there’s mental health services, we need to make sure that there’s mentoring…violence interruption.”
Johnson supports a study that’s underway to determine the proper number of police a city the size of Milwaukee needs. Once the results become available, he’ll act accordingly.