Burgelis, Zepnick Advance In Southwest Side Aldermanic Race

Peter Burgelis and Josh Zepnick. Image from the Burgelis campaign and Wisconsin Blue Book (Zepnick).

It’s Burgelis versus Zepnick for a seat on the Milwaukee Common Council.

The two candidates emerged as the victors following Tuesday’s primary election for the 11th District seat on the city’s far southwest side. Peter Burgelis earned 52.6% of the vote (1,703 votes), Josh Zepnick earned 35.1% (1,134) and Lee Whiting earned 12% (388).

The winner of the April 2 general election will replace Alderman Mark Borkowski, who announced his decision not to seek reelection in August.

Burgelis is finishing his first term on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, a part-time post. He also works as a private wealth mortgage loan originator for U.S. Bank. He is the first openly gay member of the county board, but is not running for reelection.

The supervisor previously ran for the aldermanic seat in 2020, but lost to Borkowski 58-42% in the pandemic-altered spring election. He is a board member of the Cream City Foundation and the board chair of the Wisconsin Latvian Cultural Foundation.

His top priority, according to his campaign website, is public safety. He said he is also focused on reliable city services, revenue accountability and delivering results instead of cheap political talk.

Zepnick served in the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Democrat from 2003 to 2019. He was upset in a 2018 primary by Marisabel Cabrera after being accused of kissing female colleagues against their will years earlier. Zepnick said he went into recovery and, by time of the 2018 election, was sober for three years.

In announcing his campaign in August, Zepnick said his top priorities are addressing gun violence and reckless driving. He said he is also interested in fixing streets, lowering property taxes and enacting responsible government spending.

This is the third time Zepnick has run for alderman. In 2016, Zepnick ran in a spring election to oust Robert Donovan, but finished third. He ran in a 2019 special election to replace Terry Witkowski. The veteran politician finished sixth in a seven-way primary that Scott Spiker, Witkowski’s aide, resoundingly won after filing to run before Witkowski resigned. Zepnick lost by 17 votes to Juan Miguel Martinez in a spring 2022 race for an open seat on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.

Whiting is a member of the city’s Safety & Civic Commission. He applied to run before Borkowski announced his intention not to seek reelection.

The candidate received a pardon from Governor Tony Evers for a 1980 felony conviction for stealing cash from his employer. His campaign sent out a flyer attacking Zepnick for the kissing allegations and Burgelis for his connection to Brett Blomme. The Cream City Foundation previously hired Blomme as its executive director, and then Burgelis and several prominent Democrats backed Blomme in his successful bid to become a circuit court judge. Blomme was arrested for child porn charges in 2021 and quickly convicted.

A Legislative Reference Bureau report says 65.6% of the district’s voting-age residents identify as white, 21.5% Hispanic, 5.6% Black and 4.4% Asian. It was 77.9% white following the 2010 census, but has seen its demographics change following the end of the city’s residency requirement. A district map highlights the specific boundaries.

Council members are elected on a nonpartisan basis to a four-year term and paid a base salary of $84,205.