Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s extended run as the city’s chief executive is officially coming to an end.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Barrett to become ambassador to the European country of Luxembourg, which will begin a new chapter for Barrett and the city after nearly 18 years.
In a virtual session with the reporters, Barrett said he had gone for a long walk and when he returned to his Washington Heights home a little after 7 p.m. he “had an inkling” to turn on C-SPAN, the cable network that televises the proceedings of the federal government.
Moments later, Barrett received a text message from the chief of staff to Senate Majority Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.
The message simply stated that things were “going to get interesting for me in the Senate in a few minutes,” Barrett said.
“Obviously, that piqued my interest immensely,” Barrett said.
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Within a matter of minutes, Schumer made a motion that included Barrett’s nomination to become the next United States ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which has a population of about 632,000 and is surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany.
The motion received unanimous support.
“I am very honored and pleased and extremely thankful to President Biden for having the confidence in me to serve him, to serve the State Department and, most importantly, to serve the United States of America in Luxembourg,” Barrett said. “It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility but it’s something that I’m very excited about.”
Barrett also expressed thanks to Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Ron Johnson, the U.S. senators from Wisconsin, whom he said were very helpful in getting his nomination through the Senate.
“As you may or may not know, there have not been that many ambassadors who have been confirmed,” Barrett said. “I think I’m among the first 10 ambassadors to countries that have been confirmed now.”
Barrett said the next immediate step will involve the transfer of power at City Hall. Common Council President Cavelier Johnson will serve as mayor upon Barrett’s resignation. Barrett said he expected to speak with Johnson Thursday night or on Friday and also planned to be in contact with the State Department and possibly the White House before the weekend to discuss the timing of his departure for Luxembourg.
The changeover to new leadership in the mayor’s office is likely to take place before the end of the year, Barrett said.
Barrett reiterated that he has wants the transfer to occur in such a way that there would be a special election at no cost to the taxpayers.
“I think the timing of this meets that,” he said. “This will allow the Common Council to meet and approve a special election that will coincide with the spring election.”
If the transfer does indeed take place before the end of the year, a primary would be held Feb. 15 and a special election April 5.
Johnson is among seven candidates who have declared to replace Barrett.
Johnson congratulated Barrett in a statement issued Thursday night. He referred to Barrett as a “dedicated servant” who served the Milwaukee community for four decades.
“I have no doubt he will make our country proud,” Johnson said.
The change in leadership is an important moment for Milwaukee, Johnson added, while claiming he’s “ready to step up and lead.”
“We will make Milwaukee safer. We will make our community stronger, and we will make our economy and our environment more sustainable,” Johnson said. “We will create more family-supporting jobs, and we will continue building on our successes, while rising to address our challenges.”
The city has had several months to prepare for the mayoral changeover, Barrett stressed.
“I’m very confident that we’ll have a smooth transition over the next few weeks,” he said.
Barrett won election as Milwaukee’s 40th mayor on April 6, 2004. He won reelection in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.
“As many of you know, I absolutely love being the mayor of Milwaukee,” he said. “This is a dream come true to have this job. I love the people of this city and I feel unbelievable honored to be able to have served this community for nearly 18 years as mayor. But As I’ve often said, I’m not running from something, I’m running to something. I think we all realize there are different chapters in life and I’m very eager to start this next chapter.”
A lifelong Milwaukeean, Barrett entered public service starting in the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate and continued his legislative career representing Milwaukee in the U.S. Congress before his extended run as Milwaukee’s mayor.
“A kid on the west side of Milwaukee who had the chance to live his dream and serve his community, that’s something very special,” said Barrett, who didn’t take questions from reporters.
Barrett will fill the role most recently held by lawyer Randy Evans, a member of the Republican Party from Georgia and an appointee of former President Donald Trump.
