The Recombobulation Area's Mayoral Candidate Interview Series

As the city of Milwaukee gets ready to go to the polls, we're unlocking our subscriber-only content for those of you cramming before the deadline. Oh, and GO VOTE TOMORROW!!!

The Recombobulation Area is a weekly opinion column by veteran Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.

Milwaukee City Hall, which will be seeing quite a bit of change inside its walls in the coming months. Photo via Getty Images.

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Are you ready to vote, Milwaukee?

The city’s most competitive mayoral primary in a generation is happening Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Hey, that’s tomorrow!

Seven candidates are on the ballot, and we’ve been talking with many of them, getting into the issues facing the city, and taking a look at the big picture for this extremely important primary election.

So if you’ve been putting off your decision, that’s OK! If you want to learn more about the candidates in these final hours before Election Day, we’ve got you covered.

We have been publishing podcasts and transcripts with each of the candidates we’ve interviewed. Up until now, they’ve only been available to paid subscribers only. But we are making them available free to all (!) through the end of the day on Tuesday.

For this interview series with the candidates for mayor of Milwaukee, each candidate was asked the same series of questions on topics including local control, the covid-19 pandemic, segregation and racial disparities, economic development, population growth, immigration, transportation and infrastructure, reckless driving and vehicles thefts, public safety, and education. At the end of each interview, we had a “lightning round” with some more lighthearted, Milwaukee-specific questions.

For more in-depth coverage of state and local issues here at The Recombobulation Area, help fund our work and subscribe.

Be sure to check back after the election for more coverage of the incredibly important race, right here at The Recombobulation Area.

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Here’s what is now available:

Interview with Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson

• Story:

  Cavalier Johnson: 'I'm going to be the candidate in this race who is the proud urbanist'

• Podcast:

  PODCAST: Interview with Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson

• Transcript:

  Q&A with Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson (TRANSCRIPT)

Interview with Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic

• Story:

  Dimitrijevic: ‘I want Milwaukee to be the most welcoming place to all people’

• Podcast:

  PODCAST: Interview with Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic

• Transcript:

  Q&A with Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic (TRANSCRIPT)

Interview with State Senator Lena Taylor

• Story:

  Lena Taylor: ‘I will be a voice, even when the conversations are uncomfortable’

• Podcast:

  PODCAST: Interview with State Senator Lena Taylor

• Transcript:

Q&A with State Senator Lena Taylor (TRANSCRIPT)

Interview with Community Activist Ieshuh Griffin

• Podcast:

  PODCAST: Interview with Mayoral Candidate Ieshuh Griffin

• Transcript:

  Q&A with Mayoral Candidate Ieshuh Griffin (TRANSCRIPT)

Interview with Business Owner Michael Sampson

• Podcast:

  PODCAST: Interview with Mayoral Candidate Michael Sampson

• Transcript:

  Q&A with Mayoral Candidate Michael Sampson (TRANSCRIPT)

Note: Due to scheduling conflicts, we were not able to interview Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas. Additionally, former alderman Bob Donovan ignored all of our requests for interviews.

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Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s also written for The Daily Beast, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He’s won ten Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer.