Brower Defeats Bauman In Race To Replace Brostoff

Alex Brower and Daniel Bauman. Photos provided.

East Side and Riverwest voters picked Alex Brower to be their new representative at Milwaukee City Hall.

Brower defeated Daniel Bauman in a special election for the Third District seat on the Milwaukee Common Council.

With absentee ballots and one ward still outstanding, Brower was leading Bauman by almost 15 percentage points. After absentee ballots were counted, Brower’s gap shrank, but he still won with 53.5% (8,185 votes) to Bauman’s 45.8% (7,000).

The special election was triggered by the November 2024 death of Jonathan Brostoff. The new council member will now serve the remainder of Brostoff’s term through April 2028.

Brower won the eight-way primary in February, but with only 29% of the vote and faced Bauman, a first-time candiate with endorsements from Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Brostoff’s widow Diana Vang-Brostoff..

The new alderman is the Milwaukee Substitute Teachers’ Association president and executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans. Brower was endorsed by Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America and has not shied away from describing himself as a socialist on the campaign trail.

“The working people of Milwaukee have made it clear in this election that they are sick of an economy that serves only the richest 1%,” said Brower in a statement. “Tonight’s victory over the mayor’s status quo candidate – a victory that has elected the first socialist to the Common Council since 1948 – demonstrates that Milwaukeeans are ready for transformative change for the city. Thank you so much to the 150+ people who volunteered with our campaign, and thank you to everyone who voted to bring sewer socialism to Milwaukee City Hall!”

He is promoting a vision of replacing We Energies with public ownership and a return to the city’s Sewer Socialist history of governance. Brower made headlines for a 21-day hunger strike in 2018 in an attempt to garner health care coverage for substitute teachers. He previously ran for school board and city comptroller.

Brower ran a well-organized aldermanic campaign that included strong volunteer support and well-defined positions on issues.

The nonpartisan position is a powerful post in city politics. Council members are responsible for approving the city budget, reviewing zoning changes to enable new development and setting city policy on initiatives like reckless driving intiatives. A substantial amount of the role also includes basic constituent service, including addressing issues like garbage pickup, snow plowing and other quality of life issues.

Bauman lives in Riverwest with his wife and family and was raised in Sherman Park. He is a marketing consultant and is pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning from UW-Milwaukee. He was deputy campaign manager for Johnson’s mayoral campaign, worked as a staff assistant in the mayor’s office and previously worked in New York City in advertising.

Brower’s win is a blow to Johnson, who publicly endorsed Bauman. Johnson has now made two unsuccessful endorsements in the third district. Last August, Johnson endorsed Jarrod Anderson in the Democratic Assembly primary in an effort to unseat incumbent Ryan Clancy in the 19th Assembly District, much of which overlaps with the third council district.

The new alderman began the race living outside of the district, though by only a block and in a residence that was within the district before the 2021 redistricting process went into effect in 2024. He moved to the East Side in the middle of the campaign. In a social media post, Bauman called the matter a non-issue. The district routinely has the city’s highest turnout.

The position pays $84,205 annually.