Chris Larson, David Crowley advance to April 7 election in Milwaukee County executive race

State Sen. Chris Larson and state Rep. David Crowley advanced to a showdown in the general election for Milwaukee County executive.

With all the precincts reporting in Tuesday's primary, Larson had 36% and Crowley had 34% to clinch the top two spots.

County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. was well behind the top two vote-getters, while businesswoman Purnima Nath was fourth.

Although the office is nonpartisan, Crowley and Larson are Democrats, Lipscomb said he doesn't belong to either political party and Nath describes herself as conservative.

Two other candidates — Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy and former state Sen. Jim Sullivan — were removed from the ballot after Lipscomb successfully challenged their nomination papers.

The general election is April 7.

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"Our campaign is about people power, not the wealthy spending influencing this race," Larson said. "I look forward to continuing the debate on the issues that are most important to our neighbors and this campaign — ending family homelessness, securing dedicated funding for transit, and keeping our parks free."

Looking toward the general election, Larson said, "Large outside money is not going to buy your vote. Regardless of the money they spend against us, we are going to fight for what's right."

Larson also vowed that as county executive he would annually return $10,000 of his salary to the taxpayers.

Crowley said that getting through to the general election "is a really good thing – it lets me know Milwaukee County is ready for a change."

"If we are going to move Milwaukee County forward, we have to build bridges not only locally but building bridges here in the state Legislature as well as with the governor’s administration,” Crowley said at the Wisconsin State Capitol during a break in a Tuesday floor session. “For me, it’s really about building a bigger table for all the voices to be heard."

Larson and Crowley are running to succeed Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who announced in October that he would not seek re-election.

Larson won the primary four years ago but lost in that general election to Abele.

And Abele is still a force in the race, having thrown his support behind Crowley in the form of $240,000 in advertising via Leadership MKE, an independent campaign spending organization started and funded by Abele.

Leadership MKE has a mixed record, having won 12 of the 19 races in which it has spent money.

When Crowley entered the race in November, he focused on his ability to build relationships in a moment when leaders in the Milwaukee area are seeking more financial flexibility from the state in order to address the county's strained budgets.

Crowley was elected to the state Assembly in 2016.

Larson has led his rivals in fundraising as he takes another shot at the seat he failed to wrest from Abele in 2016.

He served on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors from 2008 to 2010, the year he won a seat in the state Senate.

When he filed papers to run for county executive, Larson tweeted that his campaign would be about "building a county-wide coalition united by a long-term vision for our parks, transit, and quality of life."

Lipscomb was elected to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors in 2008 and has been the board's chairman since 2015.

He and Abele have been at odds in the past, a conflict that was on full display in the April 2018 election, when Abele's Leadership MKE supported Lipscomb's opponent in a failed effort to unseat him.

The two have since collaborated on efforts including the "Fair Deal for Milwaukee County," which seeks to avert a fiscal crisis in the county and change how state tax revenue is handled.

In this race, Lipscomb trailed Larson and Crowley in fundraising.

"You need media and mailers and that costs a lot," he said. "Their ability to raise money was obviously better than mine."

Lipscomb said he had no plans to endorse a candidate in the general election.

"They're both friends of mine," he said.

Nath oversees IndiaFest in Bay View and ran as a political outsider.

Journal Sentinel reporter Molly Beck contributed from Madison.

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.