- Hi, I'm Lena Taylor. How ya doing?
- Hey, folks, just want to say hello, Mayor Tom Barrett.
- Tom Barrett has been mayor of Milwaukee for 16 years
and he's looking to make it an even two decades
of running Wisconsin's largest city.
- I'm very, very excited about the future of the city
because first of all,
there's a lot of great things that are going on in the city right now.
The heart of the city is experiencing a renaissance
unlike anything we have seen before.
- Challenger Lena Taylor is a state senator
and has represented Milwaukee's north side in the Legislature for 17 years.
- I finally decided that I needed to step in the race
when it became clear that
ideas, innovation, vision, and equity for all
was more lip service than it was action.
- While Barrett has focused on the economic revival
in the center of the city,
Taylor says the neighborhoods of color she represents
have been left behind.
- Do you think our city needs a change?
We have now gone to a place that is the worst place in the nation
to raise a black child, to be a black American.
You can see the disparities that exist in services.
- I'm very aware that we've got some very deep-seated problems
in some neighborhoods
with race issues and poverty issues and public safety issues.
- What will he do in the next four years
that he could not have done in the last 16?
- I'm more optimistic than ever though
because the heart is strong now.
And our challenge moving forward
is to create family-supporting jobs
in these neighborhoods that have been historically underserved.
- Milwaukee has long been a democratic city
and the race for mayor
has a lot in common with debates happening within the party
at the national level
about who the party represents
and who gets to lead it forward.
- Women of color have been the backbone
of the Democratic Party.
- I do not want to divide the city
in racial terms, in economic terms, in geographic terms
because I think that that's a recipe for disaster.
I don't bring it up as a, "Oh, we're divided."
I bring it up as a, "This is a reality for people
that look like me
in this community that are the majority of this community."
- Hello, gentlemen, just want to say hello, Mayor Tom Barrett.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to see you.
- I'm knocking on your door, hoping that
you will vote for me to be your mayor.
- With the election aligning with the presidential primary,
Taylor hopes higher turnout will help her cause.
- When we have higher turnout, they tend to lean democratic.
They tend to be more people of color.
And they tend to be African-American women.
- The eyes of the nation will be on Milwaukee this summer
when it hosts the Democratic National Convention.
Barrett says he hopes to showcase
the city's diversity and strength.
- The stage and the interior of Fiserv Forum
where the whole nation is going to be watching,
the national stage is going to be built
by a local African-American construction firm.
- Taylor says local voters
shouldn't get caught up in the DNC hype.
- A four-day party is not the decision maker
of what will happen for the next four years.
- Beyond the DNC,
both candidates say people around the state should understand
the future of Milwaukee will impact the whole state.
- When people come to Milwaukee and they think about
what we are and what we do,
they go back and that's their impression of Wisconsin.
It includes you, too.
- If you go back 13, 14 years,
I think you could make the argument
that Milwaukee got more resources
from the state than it paid in.
But with this incredible economic resurgence
that we're seeing in the city,
now we are sending a lot more to Madison
than we're receiving in return.
- As strong as Milwaukee is
will be as strong as our state, right?
- Nice to see you. Very nice to see you.
We got an election coming up and I'd love your vote.
- All right, I need your vote on April 7th.
Tell everybody. - I will.
-All right now. Have a good day.
- Reporting from Milwaukee, I'm Zac Schultz for "Here & Now."