Milwaukee Co. Board: Davies, Shea move on in 8th District.
Milwaukee County Supervisor David Sartori lost his bid for re-election to a second two-year term Tuesday as voters in the District 8 primary nominated his two challengers to compete for the job in the spring election.
James Davies with 45% of the vote and Steven Shea (29%) outpolled Sartori (26%) in the three-way primary to advance to the April 3 ballot.
Davies and Shea are backed by interest groups with ties to other county officials attempting to influence the makeup of the County Board while Sartori did not accept campaign contributions.
At age 75, Sartori is the oldest member of the board. He is a retired state probation and parole agent.
Davies has received at least $34,700 of financial support from Leadership MKE, an independent political expenditure committee funded by County Executive Chris Abele. Such committees are set up to spend money on campaign messages to boost a single candidate without the cooperation or consent of the candidate.
Abele also personally contributed $1,050 to Davies, the maximum amount allowed under state campaign finance law.
Davies, 33, of South Milwaukee, is senior director of operations and planning for Bublr Bikes, a nonprofit bike sharing system in Milwaukee County.
Shea is endorsed by the Wisconsin Working Families Party. Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic is executive director of the political organization and asked Shea to enter the race.
Shea, 58, of Cudahy, is an adult education teacher at MATC and a member of the American Federation of Teachers Local 212. The union local’s Committee on Political Education contributed the maximum $1,050 to Shea’s campaign.
District 8 includes Saint Francis, Cudahy and South Milwaukee, as well as portions of Oak Creek.