Milwaukeeans to Pick New Mayor as Maier Retires

Voters on Tuesday will choose a fresh face to occupy the mayor’s office in a closely contested race that marks the end of incumbent Mayor Henry Maier’s reign of nearly three decades.

Maier has held his office since 1960, longer than any other big-city mayor in the country. The 70-year-old Maier cited his age as reason for not running for another term.

The two contenders vying for his job are state Sen. John Norquist, 38, and former acting Gov. Martin Schreiber, 48. The race is nonpartisan; both contenders have run for other offices in the past as Democrats.

When the campaign began, polls put Norquist well behind. But his support grew, and he finished 4 percentage points behind Schreiber in the February primary. Recent polls find the race a dead heat.

Schreiber was elected lieutenant governor in 1970 after eight years in the state Senate. He became acting governor in 1977 when Gov. Patrick Lucey resigned to become ambassador to Mexico. But the next year, Schreiber lost to his Republican challenger in the general election for a full term as governor.

Norquist served in the state Assembly from 1974 to 1982, when he was elected to the Senate.