Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) frequently speaks out against the Israeli military bombing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. He championed ceasefire resolutions in the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and in the Wisconsin Assembly.

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) won’t bow to pressure say those who know him best. 

“He’s very aware of his privilege, very aware he has a platform to create change,” said his wife Becky Cooper. “He very specifically reaches out to people who don’t have that platform. He goes out of his way to talk to people whose family members are incarcerated, to people who feel they don’t have access to politicians, who may not be able to attend fundraisers in the same ways as others. He listens to them and really hears what they need. Fighting for the underdog motivates him.”

In a race with no Republican contender, the Aug. 13 Democratic primary will determine who will represent heavily Democratic District 19 for the next two-year term. The district includes downtown Milwaukee and much of Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan coastline.

Despite being a Democrat and the incumbent, Clancy’s fight for re-election has made him a target, said Janan Najeeb, founder of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine and the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition. “Rep Ryan Clancy is an incredibly experienced, well-informed and committed elected official,” she said. “Most importantly, he is one of the very few individuals in public office who has consistently stood for his values and the values of those he represents. He does not cower under pressure from special interest groups. He will not tell you one thing and then do something else. I am really proud to know him.

“The simple fact that Clancy is being challenged by an inexperienced individual supported by Zionists and special interest groups should be enough proof that we need to elect Clancy,” she continued. “Clancy has refused to cater to the anti-Palestinian and genocide-supporting groups who are supporting his opponent.”
 
Since Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza began in October, Clancy has spoken up for Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, who are being slaughtered by relentless, aggressive bombing in Gaza.
 
“Why do I do it? First and foremost, it is the right thing to do,” he told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal during an interview in June. 
 
Because of his stand for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he expects his opponents to be aggressive with negative campaign ads during his re-election campaign. “You’re going to hear some bad things about Dad and we know they aren’t true,” Rep. Clancy and his wife Becky told their five children (ages 10 to 23) soon after Clancy announced his bid for re-election.
 
“When we see AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) throwing money into races, we know they’re going to talk about how I am not a good dad or how I hate the police or whatever they come up with,” Clancy said in an interview in June with WMJ at Colectivo Coffee in Bay View, in the heart of District 19. (“I like to spend as much time as I can in the district,” he said when suggesting the meeting place for the interview.).
 
The incumbent faces Jarrod Anderson.  Wisconsin Watch calls “ him a party-line challenger” who supports the status quo.  Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley both endorsed Clancy’s challenger.
 
“They appear to be following the Biden administration even though the majority of Democrats in Wisconsin and the nation have clearly called for a ceasefire in Gaza,” Najeeb said. “It may also be an example of how Zionist organizations are trying to silence people who stand up for human rights and values,” she added.
 
“The kids and I completely support him,” Cooper told WMJ in a Zoom interview last week. “We know him. He is the right person to be doing this,” He is not a politician. He is an activist who uses politics to make things better for people.
 
Clancy described himself as “someone who is not happy with the status quo and feels compelled to change it.” This approach causes him to occasionally butt heads over issues with others in power—perhaps on the Israel-Palestine issue more than any other.

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) and his daughter Fiona at an anti-war protest for Gaza in October.

Demonstrating courage

When introducing Rep. Clancy at a ceasefire rally in the fall, Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition founder and executive director Janan Najeeb noted Clancy “is at every protest.”

Clancy regularly attends marches organized by the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine. As a Milwaukee County Board supervisor, he proposed and rallied for a ceasefire resolution that passed in March with some modifications, like removing the word “genocide” to describe the Israeli military assault on Gaza. 

He supported the Wisconsin Vote Uninstructed campaign in the April primary that aimed to send a message to President Joe Biden to change course on his position on the war in Gaza before the November election. 

Clancy joined University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee anti-war encampment in April and gave a speech calling for an immediate ceasefire and praising the students for their brave action.

Chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission Ann Jacobs has vowed “to do everything she can to oust” Clancy for “his provocative Facebook posts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Jacobs was “one of a handful of members of Milwaukee’s Jewish Zionist community who came to the two Milwaukee County hearings to advocate for genocide in Gaza,” Najeeb said. 

Jacobs vow came in response to Clancy’s Facebook post “a day after Hamas militant launched a surprise attack on Israeli citizens,” the Oct. 12 article said. 

His post was a chart taken from Al Jazeera News titled: “Israel-Palestine conflict: The human cost from 2008 – 2023.” It included a year-by-year comparison of Palestinian versus Israeli deaths from 2008 to 2023 that showed totals of 6,407 Palestinian deaths to 308 Israeli deaths over the 15-year period. (Israeli military bombing in Gaza is estimated to have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since October.) Clancy added the word “Context.”

“She has been out to get me since then,” Clancy said. It’s not about picking sides in a war, he explained. “I am anti-genocide and that is what is happening. Let’s call it what it is.”

Rep. Ryan Clancy (back row, far right) and his wife Becky Cooper (back row, far left) share their activism with their children: (back row) Sebasatian, Fiona and James. Front row: Desmond and Alex.

Heather Gilvary-Hamad, an educator from Brookfield and a member of Greater Milwaukee’s Muslim community, said she “witnessed Rep. Clancy’s courage” during Clancy’s push for the Milwaukee County ceasefire resolution.

When asked by her own representative (not Clancy) for an endorsement, she asked her, “What is your position on the war in Gaza?” 

“’Ceasefire now,”’ she told me. So, I asked her if she would put that statement on her website.”

Her representative made an excuse, Gilvary-Hamad said. “She responded by text, ‘I don’t have a statement on Israel and Gaza in my published platform because State Assembly representatives don’t have a direct impact on that situation. I am glad to discuss it and state my position however, I don’t want to appear to be trying to benefit politically from an issue that I wouldn’t be able to directly impact.’

“I disagreed with her. It’s our tax dollars funding it. Wisconsin companies are profiting from it. I have personally been impacted,’” she said, referring to the death of her sister-in-law and dozens of other family members in the Israeli bombing of a refugee camp in Gaza.

In contrast, Clancy continuously makes a stand on an issue that may cost him the election, she noted. “He did his research. He doesn’t hesitate to say the truth. He speaks from his heart. This speaks to his character.”

This article is the first of a two-part story on Rep. Ryan Clancy’s re-election bid.