Milwaukee city attorney Spencer files to run for mayor
First-term Milwaukee City Attorney Tearman Spencer on Thursday filed to run in the open race for mayor, joining an ever-more-crowded field.
The filing with the city’s Election Commission makes him the ninth candidate in the race and gives him little time to gather the minimum 1,500 signatures from Milwaukee residents by Jan. 11 to get on the ballot.
Spencer did not immediately respond to a voicemail and text message seeking comment on his decision to run Thursday.
Since he took office in April 2020, Spencer has been at the center of controversies.
He has been accused of harassing female staffers in his office (he denies wrongdoing); overseen an exodus of staff and other issues that he has blamed on his predecessor Grant Langley, media coverage and pay; drawn the ire of religious and community leaders over his hiring of an attorney who worked for anti-Islamic “hate groups”; and sparred with Common Council members over issues including a provision in the Couture apartment tower contract that has prompted the council to hire its own attorney to represent the council against Spencer’s office in front of a private arbitrator.
Spencer’s office and then-members of the city’s Fire and Police Commission also blamed each other for the commission’s 2020 vote to oust former Police Chief Alfonso Morales — a decision that cost taxpayers $627,000 in a settlement plus tens of thousands of dollars more for Cade Law Group to represent the city in litigation brought by Morales.
In the April 2020 race for city attorney, Spencer, then a private attorney, defeated Langley by a margin of 61% to 39%. Langley had served as an assistant city attorney for 13 years before he was first elected city attorney in 1984.
As a candidate, Spencer criticized the city’s huge bill for settlement and judgments in police misconduct cases.
In the race for mayor, he joins a seemingly ever-more-crowded race to succeed Tom Barrett, who resigned last week to take a post as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg.
Among the candidates to have filed to run are Common Council President and Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, former Ald. Bob Donovan, Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas, state Sen. Lena Taylor, Michael Sampson, Nick McVey and Sheila Conley-Patterson.
State Sen. Chris Larson has said he is “strongly considering” launching a campaign.
The primary is Feb. 15 and the election is April 5.