Bob Donovan Considers Another Run For Office

Former alderman Robert Donovan‘s political career might not be over after all.

Donovan, 65, lost an April 5 special election to serve as mayor of Milwaukee and many, including Donovan, suspected that could be the end of his political career.

“I would suspect if this doesn’t work out, it is my last hurrah, probably,” said Donovan in a March interview. He lost after receiving 29% of the vote, compared to Cavalier Johnson‘s 71%, similar to his 2016 defeat to Tom Barrett. Donovan opted not to run for re-election to his aldermanic seat in 2020.

But on Thursday he teased a new run for a new seat.

“There is an old saying—when God closes a door he always opens a window,” said Donovan on social media. “It’s safe to say the door on Milwaukee mayor has closed for me but a window just may have opened.”

Donovan said he has been approached about running for the open 84th Wisconsin Assembly District seat and is considering a run. Incumbent Mike Kuglitsch (R-New Berlin) is retiring.

The former alderman, who confirmed he is now a resident of the city of Greenfield, said he was considering running for three reasons: a belief that public service is his vocation in life, to stop the spread of “chaos” from Milwaukee into the suburbs and to work to establish a partnership between the city and state to address Milwaukee’s public safety and fiscal challenges.

A long-time advocate for rank-and-file police officers, public safety was a central issue for both of Donovan’s mayoral campaigns. He’s already laying the groundwork to use it in an assembly campaign.

“As we are all well aware, the chaos going on in Milwaukee continues to spread to Milwaukee suburbs and I want to play a role in stopping that,” Donovan wrote.

The assembly district includes the southern half of the city of New Berlin, a small portion of the southwest side of the city of Milwaukee and the western half of the city of Greenfield.

Donovan would need to declare a political party affiliation in an assembly run. Unlike the city offices, the assembly is explicitly partisan. His mayoral campaign received endorsements from a number of Republican officials.

For Donovan the move would actually be a return to his political roots. He ran unsuccessfully for an assembly seat in 1982 and 1983 as a Republican. “I ran as a Republican in Milwaukee County. That will give you an indication of how incredibly naive, politically, I was at the time,” Donovan said in 2013. But the assembly seat Donovan is now considering is half in Waukesha County and leans solidly conservative.

David Karst, chair of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, already filed to run for the seat.

Candidates have until June 1 to turn in the necessary signatures to appear on the ballot. A partisan primary is scheduled for Aug. 9 and a general election will be held Nov. 8.