Nikiya Harris wins 6th District state Senate seat in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE -- Voters took to the polls in Wisconsin's partisan primary election Tuesday, August 14th. One of the key races in the election was the race for 6th District state Senate in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Nikiya Harris won the race. State Representative Elizabeth Coggs, Milwaukee County Supervisor Michael Mayo, Allyn Monroe Swan and Delta Triplett also ran for the District 6 state Senate seat.

The seat is being vacated by Spencer Coggs, who is leaving the seat to take on his full-time position as Milwaukee County Treasurer.

In Senate District 6, there's no Republican on the ballot. Thus, the primary election is the only election.

The five Democrats fought to be the person who will represent one of Wisconsin's poorest districts, appealing to northwest Milwaukee's African-American community.

"We need a regional transit authority in Milwaukee County. We need to be able to get people to their jobs," Coggs said.

Mayo and pastoral care professional Allyn Monroe Swan spoke about district crime.

"When you have officers, you have neighbors, you have peer pressure, peer counselors out there -- that violence stops within that neighborhood," Mayo said.

"Putting pressure to enforce that law enforcement takes place properly in the city," Swan said.

"I will certainly focus my attention on making sure we increase minimum wage," Harris said.

"Absolutely it's gonna be jobs number one," Triplett said.

Spencer Coggs says his district wants a senator who will treat people equally.

"There are some really great parts of the district and then there's really some squalored parts, and they want to know if the district is gonna be held accountable to treat everybody evenly," Coggs said.

District 6 is such a heavily Democratic area that state Senator Coggs says he never faced a Republican during his three terms.

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