David Cullen. Photo from Milwaukee County.

The story will be updated with final vote totals as soon as they are available.

David Cullen was able to assert himself in the office of Milwaukee County Treasurer on Tuesday, defeating Ted Chisholm in the partisan primary on Tuesday.

At the time of publication, 97% of precincts had reported their results, and Cullen received 66% (48,671) of the vote to Chisholm’s 33.2% (24,359).

The county treasurer’s primary responsibilities include managing the county’s investments and approving the day-to-day cash flow needs of the county government. With no Republican candidate running for the seat, Cullen’s victory in the Democratic primary effectively clinched re-election.

Cullen is a longtime politician who began his political career on the Milwaukee School Board in the 1980s. He won election to the State Assembly in the 1990s and served there for two decades. After redistricting in 2011, which carved up Cullen’s Assembly seat, he ran for the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, where he served one term before running for Milwaukee County Treasurer.

Chisholm is a political novice compared to the veteran Cullen, but still has incredible experience for a candidate his age. After working on a number of political campaigns as a student, including the successful campaign for Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas, Chisholm dropped out of Macalester University in his third year to become chief of staff to Lucas. After Lucas’s one term, Chisholm worked as an executive clerk for the Clerk of Circuit Court. Anna Maria HodgesHe left the job to focus on his campaign for treasurer.

The election campaign for the sleepy office of district treasurer was marked from the beginning by political attacks from both sides.

Cullen sought to portray his opponent as inexperienced, riding on the laurels of his father, longtime Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm. After Chisholm’s campaign announcement in January, Cullen told Urban Milwaukee, “I truly believe this office needs someone with more experience and credentials than a political operative without a college degree.”

Meanwhile, Chisholm promised to reform the office to achieve greater cost efficiency, addressing two recent political controversies related to Cullen.

Cullen was involved in an attempt to get the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors to give him an exorbitant 36% ($33,000) raise for himself and the county’s two other partisan constitutional officers: the Register of Deeds and the County Clerk. After County Executive David Crowley Although management rejected the raise, they reduced it to 11.5%. Chisholm promised during the election campaign to return the raise.

Chisholm also attacked Cullen for a promotional letter he sent from the treasurer’s office that resembled political campaign brochures and was paid for with taxpayer money. Daniel M. Adams It later emerged that Cullen had used voting results from recent elections with low voter turnout to send his letters.

Both candidates found significant support among traditional Democratic Party supporters in Milwaukee County and boasted the support of a long list of elected officials and unions.

The Milwaukee County Treasurer’s salary will be $102,004 at the start of the next term (up from $91,483), thanks to the raise approved by the County Council earlier this year.