HRC announced its endorsement of Mayor Tom Barrett in his bid for reelection as Mayor of Milwaukee.

Mayor Barrett has made Milwaukee one of the most LGBTQ inclusive cities nationwide. In 2018, for the first time, Milwaukee earned a top score on HRC’s Municipal Equality Index and earned that top score again in 2019. Over the coming weeks, HRC will be devoting significant resources to turning out the 675,000 Equality Voters across the state of Wisconsin to ensure pro-equality leaders like Mayor Barrett are elected to or remain in office. 

“Milwaukee and Mayor Barrett have been true regional leaders for equality,” said HRC Wisconsin State Director Wendy Strout. “Through his dedicated leadership, Mayor Barrett has made Milwaukee one of the most inclusive cities in the Midwest and a model for how municipalities across the country can lead progress for equality while the U.S. Senate and President Trump impede our progress on the national level. HRC is proud to endorse Mayor Barrett and looks forward to continuing to work with him to continue the incredible progress Milwaukee has already made.”

“I am deeply honored to receive the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “We've worked hard, and we continue to work hard, in Milwaukee to ensure that all people in our city feel safe and supported in their homes, at work, and in all facets of their lives. Our friends and neighbors of Milwaukee's LGBTQ community have come so far in the fight for equality and we aren't done yet, because Milwaukee will always be a place of opportunity, hope and bright futures for all.”

Mayor Barrett has been an ardent advocate for the health, safety, and leadership of the LGBTQ community throughout his tenure in office. Barrett has prioritized the success of organizations/clinics/resources like Courage MKE, Diverse & Resilient, Brady East STD Clinic, and Cream City Foundation. Further, Barrett has made sure members of the LGBTQ community are in high level positions throughout his administration ensuring our community has a seat at the table and decision-making power. 

HRC has prioritized investments and organizing in Wisconsin since 2017, and had 17 staff on the ground in the state in the closing weeks of the 2018 election. In the midterm elections, HRC members and supporters completed over 1,480 volunteer shifts. In the final four days of GOTV alone, our staff and volunteers knocked on over 11,300 doors. Members and supporters also sent over 52,000 text messages to voters in the final weeks with voting resources. Since launching, we've helped over 1,500 Wisconsinites register to vote by mail, online, and at in-person events. HRC hosted 22 Equality Action Academy trainings to give HRC members and supporters the tools they need to take action locally in legislative advocacy and in support of pro-equality candidates.

In the 2018 midterms, HRC helped register more than 32,000 voters and recruited more than 4,200 volunteers, who worked over 8,500 shifts and clocked more than 30,000 volunteer hours. In the critical final four days of the campaign, HRC staff and volunteers in get-out-the-vote efforts alone knocked on more than 80,000 doors, and held 36,400 conversations with voters at their doors and by phone on behalf of our endorsed candidates. HRC's unprecedented grassroots mobilization represented an investment of approximately $26 million to recruit volunteers, mobilize constituents, register voters and grow the organization's grassroots army in an all-out effort to pull the emergency brake on the hateful anti-LGBTQ agenda of the Trump-Pence administration and elect a Congress that would hold them accountable.