State Assembly

After graduating from college, Antaramian became an assistant manager at a Kenosha Walgreens drug store. At age 25, in 1980, he made his first run for Wisconsin State Assembly, launching a primary challenge against five-term incumbent state representative Eugene Dorff in the 65th Assembly district.^[2] Antaramian ran a spirited campaign, attacking Dorff for becoming inaccessible to his constituents and not taking a significant part in the business of the Assembly. The primary results were surprisingly tight, with Antaramian falling just 196 votes short.^[3] Antaramian said he was satisfied that he had sent a message to Dorff, and promised he would run again in 1982.^[4]

In January 1982, Dorff removed the possibility for a rematch by announcing that he would not run for another term.^[5] Three candidates entered the contest for the Democratic nomination to succeed Dorff in what was then the 23rd Assembly district (due to a court-ordered redistricting plan that had been implemented that spring), but one candidate dropped out before the election. Antaramian based his primary campaign on juvenile law reforms, saying that juveniles accused of severe crimes should face adult court and exceptions from the limits on penalties for juvenile offenders. He also advocated for increasing financial penalties for parents of juveniles who engage in certain crimes, and wanted Wisconsin's drinking age raised to 19.^[6] His principal opponent in the race was former county board chairman Ronald C. Frederick. Antaramian prevailed with 55% of the vote. He was unopposed in the general election and assumed office in January 1983.^[1][7]

After another redistricting in 1983, Antaramian was back in the 65th Assembly district, where he was easily elected to four more terms in the Assembly, in 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990.^{[8][9][10][11]} For several consecutive sessions, Antaramian pushed for a state health insurance program to cover the estimated 500,000 Wisconsinites who then were lacking insurance coverage, seeking to expand on the WISCONCARE plan passed in 1985.^[12] Though he didn't succeed, a version of this program (BadgerCare) was made possible in the 1990s due to the passage of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program. During the 1991–1992 term, Antaramian was assigned to the powerful budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.^[1]

First mayoral terms

In the fall of 1991, Antaramian announced he would run for mayor in 1992, challenging incumbent mayor Patrick Moran. In announcing his campaign, he also laid out three pillars to his platform: implementation of zero-based budgeting for the city, allocation of additional land and funding to industrial development for business and job growth, and expansion of community policing.^[13] The race ultimately drew several other candidates; the incumbent mayor, Moran, withdrew from the race in January, citing family health problems.^[14] Antaramian came in first in the nonpartisan primary, taking 59% of the vote.^[15] He defeated city councilmember Keith Bosman in the April general election.^[16][17] He went on to win re-election in 1996, 2000, and 2004, leaving office in 2008.

After leaving the mayor's office, he started a consulting business. He was also a visiting professor at Carthage College.^[18]

Return to office

In 2015, Mayor Keith Bosman announced he would not run for a third term.^[19] Antaramian immediately confirmed that he was considering running for mayor again.^[20] After Antaramian formally entered the race, only one other candidate chose to run—first-term city councilmember Bob Johnson.^[21] After a brief but bitter campaign, Antaramian easily prevailed in the Spring 2016 election, receiving 63% of the vote.^[22][23]

Antaramian suffered a heart attack at his home on May 27, 2019. He was able to receive medical attention and had a heart catheterization procedure; he ultimately made a successful recovery.^[24] Despite the health scare, Antaramian showed no hesitation about running for another term as mayor, announcing that fall that he would stand for election to a sixth term in 2020.^[25]

He faced no opposition in the 2020 Spring election, which was complicated by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin.^[26] Antaramian advocated for the entire election to be conducted via mail-in ballot, to encourage social distancing, but ultimately the city did still open ten in-person polling places on election day.^[27]

Shooting of Jacob Blake

Following the unrest after the shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020, Antaramian requested the presence of the Wisconsin National Guard in Kenosha.^[28] 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.^[29] Antaramian also announced he would hold four community listening sessions on racism.^[30]

In an interview days after the shooting, Antaramian said visits to Kenosha by President Donald Trump 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.^{[31][32][33][34]}

Later years

The Fall general election in 2020 was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, for which there was not yet a vaccine at that time. Antaramian remained an advocate for vote-by-mail and other early voting options which allowed voters to avoid congregating in person at polling places. In October 2020, Antaramian participated in a challenge with the mayors of Wisconsin's five largest cities (Racine's Cory Mason, Milwaukee's Tom Barrett, Green Bay's Eric Genrich, and Madison's Satya Rhodes-Conway) to see which city would have the highest rate of absentee and early voting.^[35] U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the increase of absentee voting, alleging that it was a source of voter fraud; those attacks only increased after Trump lost the 2020 United States presidential election. Wisconsin, in particular, was a target of these accusations.

Responding to Trump's continuing complaints, his Republican allies in the Wisconsin Legislature appointed former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Michael Gableman to investigate those fraud allegations. The investigation lasted just over a year, and saw Gableman attempt to subpoena Antaramian and the other mayors. Gableman's investigation quickly devolved into a series of accusations and conspiracy theories. Gableman implied that the election process had been corrupted by the cities receiving election support funding from the non-profit Center for Tech and Civic Life. Antaramian described the investigation as a waste of time and money.^[36] Ultimately, Gableman was fired by Republican Assembly speaker Robin Vos in August 2022.^[37]

In May 2023, Antaramian announced that he would not run for a seventh term in 2024.^[38] After the primary, he endorsed longtime city councilmember David Bogdala, who went on to win the election to succeed him.^[39]

Wisconsin Assembly, 65th district (1980)

Wisconsin Assembly, 23rd district (1982)

Wisconsin Assembly, 65th district (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990)

Kenosha Mayor (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)