State Rep. Leon Young (D-Milwaukee) is shown in this March 2011 photo protesting Act 10 at the Capitol in Madison. Young defeated challenger Tracey Dent in Tuesday’s primary. Credit: Journal Sentinel Files

In the aftermath of Tuesday's primary election, Tracey Dent learned a hard lesson about taking on an incumbent Democrat in the black community.

Dent, a former political aide, decided to run against state Rep. Leon Young — a 22-year veteran with an unimpressive record of achievement in office — with grand hopes of revitalizing the 16th Assembly District with new leadership.

Dent lost by about 1,000 votes in a race in which only 3,685 votes were cast. That means Young — connected to the powerful Coggs political family that has dominated elections in black Milwaukee for decades — gets to continue as one of the most ineffective legislators in Madison.

Young's poor job performance was the reason Dent took him on; the results of the election demonstrated an advantage Dent didn't anticipate.

"After 22 years, he has a machine. He knows how to win," Dent told me recently, still disappointed at his loss to an incumbent who pretty much refused to debate or elaborate on any substantive issues during the campaign.

"He refused to run on his record; he stayed under the radar. I thought people were ready for a change. That's what they told me. In the end, they didn't show up. It's kind of sad."

Dent's challenge to Young was just one of several interesting contests that promised new leadership and direction for black Milwaukee, including a high-profile race for Milwaukee County sheriff that revealed some interesting racial dynamics. In the end, overall turnout across the state was disappointing, while in Milwaukee, barely two out of every 10 eligible voters showed up for this August primary.

I guess that means most voters don't have much problem with the current performance of their elected officials even while much of the black community is buffeted with handgun violence, crime, unemployment and government dysfunction.

In that sense, voters probably got what they deserve.

The victory by Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. over Milwaukee police officer David Moews was the race that promised to excite voters due to a battle of outside money on behalf of both candidates by national groups suddenly interested in a local race for county sheriff. That attention was most likely due to the presence of the polarizing Clarke, who was facing the toughest battle of his elected career. Clarke has been re-elected several times with little competition, but the challenge by Moews clearly galvanized the sheriff's supporters into a tough battle of the airwaves to save his job.

The barrage of negative ads against Clarke from Moews supporters — including generous funding from former New York City mayor and current political activist Michael Bloomberg — were striking in their razor-like focus on exposing all of Clarke's most unattractive qualities in office, including his pettiness, penchant for bombastic statements and failure to keep politics out of his job.

The line in one TV ad that called Clarke "a fake cowboy" was also effective, mainly because many felt it was true.

In the end, it wasn't enough to remove Clarke from office.

Some of the sheriff's conservative supporters pushed a confounding racial spin, suggesting that any attempts to defeat the black conservative sheriff was somehow an attack on the black community itself by outside groups.

I think many voters in town who regularly bash Clarke for running as a Democrat while espousing conservative views are wasting their breath. You can criticize Clarke for lots of things but not for running as a Democrat in a city where black Democrats elected to office are pretty much assured of longevity in office unless they screw up badly.

Running as a Democrat after being appointed sheriff by a Republican governor might be the smartest political move Clarke ever made.

Despite an alternate narrative some were pushing, black voters didn't save Clarke from defeat as much as thousands of white Republicans who apparently crossed over to ensure their real candidate won. The low turnout in most black wards suggested that Clarke's perceived vulnerability this time around didn't really galvanize black voters to show up in big numbers.

In anticipation of a November election with significant implications, many felt most residents in black Milwaukee seemed ready for a change on Tuesday, but they didn't come through at the polls. Dent knows the feeling well and is left only to wonder when will some get tired of the same old, same old and actually use their vote to make it happen.

Email Ekane2829@gmail.com Twitter: @eugene_kane