John Martin Antaramian (born September 21, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 50th mayor of

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

. Prior to his re-election in 2016, Antaramian had served as the 48th mayor of Kenosha for 16 years and before that was a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

Early life and education

Born and raised in

, Antaramian earned a Bachelor of Science in economics and business management from the

University of Wisconsin–Parkside The University of Wisconsin–Parkside (UWP) is a public university in Somers, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and has 4,644 students, 161 full-time faculty, and 89 lecturers and part-time faculty. The university o ...

in 1977.

Career

Pre-2016

Antaramian served in the

for ten years. In 1992, Antaramian was elected Mayor of Kenosha, and served for sixteen years, stepping down in 2008. In 2008, he retired and started a consulting business. He was a visiting professor at Carthage College before returning to the mayoral office in 2016.

2016-present

Antaramian ran for mayor again in 2016, running for the open seat vacated by retiring two-term mayor Keith Bosman, who had replaced Antaramian as mayor in 2008. Antaramian defeated Alderman Bob Johnson in the general election. Antaramian ran unopposed for mayor in and was elected to a sixth term in the spring of 2020. In October 2020, Antaramian participated in a challenge with the mayors of Wisconsin's five largest cities ( Racine's

Cory Mason Cory D. Mason IV (born January 25, 1973) is a Democratic Party politician and the mayor of Racine, Wisconsin. From 2007 to 2018, Mason served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly representing the city of Racine and eastern Racine County. ...

, Milwaukee's Tom Barrett, Green Bay's

Eric Genrich Eric Genrich ( ; born October 8, 1979) is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin, since 2019. Genrich previously represented Green Bay in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2013 until 2019. Early life and educat ...

, and Madison's

Satya Rhodes-Conway Satya Rhodes-Conway (born November 3, 1971) is an American politician. She was a member of the Madison Common Council between 2007 and 2013. In 2019, Rhodes-Conway was elected Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. She is the first out lesbian and first o ...

) to see which city would have the highest rate of absentee and early voting. An investigation led by Michael Gableman on possible fraud in the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin subpoenaed Antaramian and the same four mayors in October 2021 regarding election funding received by their cities from the Center for Tech and Civic Life. Antaramian described the investigation as a waste of time and money.

Shooting of Jacob Blake

Following the unrest that followed the

shooting of Jacob Blake On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driv ...

in August 2020, Antaramian requested the presence of the

Wisconsin National Guard The Wisconsin National Guard consists of the Wisconsin Army National Guard and the Wisconsin Air National Guard. It is a part of the Government of Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is t ...

in Kenosha. Hundreds of protesters later forced Antaramian to relocate his press conference on the shooting from a local park to the city's public safety building, where the protestors were contained by police with pepper spray after tearing the building's front entrance door from its hinges. Antaramian also announced he would hold 4 community listening sessions on racism. In an interview days after the shooting, Antaramian said visits to Kenosha by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

or then-candidate Joe Biden would be "too soon," saying that "...the President is always welcome, but at this time, it's just the wrong time." Trump would visit on September 1, and Biden on September 3.

References