John Antaramian

Three candidates entered the contest for the Democratic nomination to succeed Dorff in what was then the 23rd Assembly district (due to a court-ordered redistricting plan that had been implemented that spring), but one candidate dropped out before the election.

Antaramian based his primary campaign on juvenile law reforms, saying that juveniles accused of severe crimes should face adult court and exceptions from the limits on penalties for juvenile offenders.

He also advocated for increasing financial penalties for parents of juveniles who engage in certain crimes, and wanted Wisconsin's drinking age raised to 19.

His principal opponent in the race was former county board chairman Ronald C. Frederick.

Antaramian prevailed with 55% of the vote.

John Martin Antaramian (born September 21, 1954) is an American businessman and Democratic politician from Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He graduated from George Nelson Tremper High School and went on to attend Kenosha's University of Wisconsin–Parkside, where he earned his bachelor's degree in economics and business management in 1977.

After graduating from college, Antaramian became an assistant manager at a Kenosha Walgreens drug store.

At age 25, in 1980, he made his first run for Wisconsin State Assembly, launching a primary challenge against five-term incumbent state representative Eugene Dorff in the 65th Assembly district.

Antaramian ran a spirited campaign, attacking Dorff for becoming inaccessible to his constituents and not taking a significant part in the business of the Assembly.

The primary results were surprisingly tight, with Antaramian falling just 196 votes short.

Antaramian said he was satisfied that he had sent a message to Dorff, and promised he would run again in 1982.

In January 1982, Dorff removed the possibility for a rematch by announcing that he would not run for another term.

He also represented Kenosha for 10 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly, from 1983 to 1993.

John Antaramian was born and raised and has lived most of his life in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He was unopposed in the general election and assumed office in January 1983.

After another redistricting in 1983, Antaramian was back in the 65th Assembly district, where he was easily elected to four more terms in the Assembly, in 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990.

For several consecutive sessions, Antaramian pushed for a state health insurance program to cover the estimated 500,000 Wisconsinites who then were lacking insurance coverage, seeking to expand on the WISCONCARE plan passed in 1985.

Though he didn't succeed, a version of this program (BadgerCare) was made possible in the 1990s due to the passage of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program.

During the 1991–1992 term, Antaramian was assigned to the powerful budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.

In the fall of 1991, Antaramian announced he would run for mayor in 1992, challenging incumbent mayor Patrick Moran.

In announcing his campaign, he also laid out three pillars to his platform: implementation of zero-based budgeting for the city, allocation of additional land and funding to industrial development for business and job growth, and expansion of community policing.

The race ultimately drew several other candidates; the incumbent mayor, Moran, withdrew from the race in January, citing family health problems.

Antaramian came in first in the nonpartisan primary, taking 59% of the vote.

He defeated city councilmember Keith Bosman in the April general election.

He has served a total of 24 years as mayor, having previously served from 1992 to 2008.

He went on to win re-election in 1996, 2000, and 2004, leaving office in 2008.

After leaving the mayor's office, he started a consulting business.

He was also a visiting professor at Carthage College.

In 2015, Mayor Keith Bosman announced he would not run for a third term.

Antaramian immediately confirmed that he was considering running for mayor again.

After Antaramian formally entered the race, only one other candidate chose to run—first-term city councilmember Bob Johnson.

He is the current mayor of Kenosha, serving since 2016, but has announced he will leave office in 2024.

After a brief but bitter campaign, Antaramian easily prevailed in the Spring 2016 election, receiving 63% of the vote.

Antaramian suffered a heart attack at his home on May 27, 2019.

He was able to receive medical attention and had a heart catheterization procedure; he ultimately made a successful recovery.

Despite the health scare, Antaramian showed no hesitation about running for another term as mayor, announcing that fall that he would stand for election to a sixth term in 2020.

He faced no opposition in the 2020 Spring election, which was complicated by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin.

Antaramian advocated for the entire election to be conducted via mail-in ballot, to encourage social distancing, but ultimately the city did still open ten in-person polling places on election day.

Following the unrest that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020, Antaramian requested the presence of the Wisconsin National Guard in Kenosha.