Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell launches Milwaukee County Executive bid, vows to build on David Crowley’s legacy: ‘I don’t believe in the impossible’

When Marcelia “Cece” Nicholson-Bovell was a young girl growing up on Milwaukee’s north side she would often play outside with her family and friends.

But one day, as Nicholson-Bovell chased her mother across the street she was suddenly struck by a car. The driver immediately stopped before exiting the vehicle.

“What stuck with me was hearing the woman, who was a white woman, get out of the car and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I was just trying to get out of here,’” Nicholson-Bovell told the Milwaukee Courier on Nov. 7.

The woman had made a wrong turn upon exiting I-43 and ended up in the heart of Milwaukee’s challenged 53206 ZIP code. A place she admitted she didn’t want to be.

The dynamics of the city — one of pervasive historic segregation — became all the more apparent for the third grader. Then she grew older and began to connect the dots about her community.

“My family, my parents worked hard every single day, but still couldn’t afford their own home,” she said.

Nicholson-Bovell questioned why she would see people selling and ingesting crack cocaine in her neighborhood and recalls hearing gunshots many nights.

“When I became older, I started to make those connections about mental health and trauma and all the things that my community has gone through,” she said.

“There was so much adversity as a child, but I think it also built my character and it made me stronger and I think a better representative for Milwaukee County because I’ve not only lived it and experienced it, but I understand it.”

Nicholson-Bovell, 38, has served on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors since April 2016. She made history in April 2020, when she became the first Black and Latina person elected chairwoman and has since been reelected unanimously.

She was sworn in during the same time period as Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More than six years later, Crowley has just been elected the first Black governor in Wisconsin history, leaving a vacancy at the county executive position.

Upon his resignation, Nicholson-Bovell automatically becomes acting county executive. But she will appoint another individual to interim ahead of the spring election in April 2027.

Nicholson-Bovell is seeking the county executive position and provided the Courier an exclusive interview to launch her run on Nov. 9. If elected, Nicholson-Bovell would become the first Black and Latina woman elected county executive.

Nicholson-Bovell’s parents are longtime public servants. Her father, Maurice Nicholson, worked for Milwaukee Public Schools for 30 years. His family is from Alabama but they relocated to Milwaukee during the Great Migration. Nicholson-Bovell’s mother, Herminia Nicholson, still works for MPS and her family is originally from Puerto Rico.

Like many parents of color who have lived decades in Milwaukee, Nicholson-Bovell’s parents saw their neighborhood change for the worse. Children are now growing up in a more dangerous, nefarious environment.

“There was a lot of joy, but I also saw things looking out my window that I think no children should be able to see,” Nicholson-Bovell said.

Nicholson-Bovell can be first woman of color elected Milwaukee County Executive

A chance to make history in Milwaukee County is not Nicholson-Bovell’s reason to seek the seat, but she understands that she is a product of her background and isn’t satisfied with potentially being the first.

“I have a bittersweet feeling about it,” she said. “It’s exciting and empowering to know that I’ll be able to shatter that glass ceiling and provide for others to come behind me. But that’s just it, it’s 2026 and we’re still talking about the first. That breaks my heart because I know so many amazing, brilliant women before me.”

Nicholson-Bovell views herself as standing on the shoulders of women like Vel Phillips, Gwen Moore and Michelle Obama.

It’s still too early to know if any other serious contenders will seek the county executive position. Nicholson-Bovell worked closely with Crowley the past six years. The county executive and chair of the Board can typically be at odds throughout the legislative process, especially when more conservative members are in leadership. But Nicholson-Bovell worked seamlessly with Crowley to pass the county’s agenda. By seeking the chief executive role, Nicholson-Bovell sees an opportunity to build on that work while also finding new innovative ways to govern.

“I’ve learned the way county government works,” she said. “I know the people who keep it running and so I have firsthand experience. But also, making sure the continuity piece of (Crowley) going to the governor’s office will ensure that there is no gap or lapse in service to the million residents we serve.”

Residents are more likely to interact with city government like their alderperson, but county government can provide critical mental health services to the community, emergency assistance for those in need of housing, substance abuse prevention work, and operate the Community Reintegration Center (formerly House of Correction).

“(Crowley) has left a great foundation for me to build upon, but I think what differs me from (Crowley) is I’m a big dreamer,” Nicholson-Bovell said. “And so I don’t believe in the impossible. I’m thinking about what more we can do with what we have. I want Milwaukee County residents to know, I want to make life easier, I want to make life more affordable.

“As things get more challenging for our families in this current economic environment, I’m not going to cut services. And I’m going to work as hard to leverage my relationships, leverage my background, leverage my network to bring more creative ideas and solutions.

“I want to bring more people to the table. Not just the politics, not just the operatives, not just the CEOs, but the working mom, the formerly incarcerated, the youth. It’s not about self. It’s about what you can provide to others with the gifts that have been given to you.”

Nicholson-Bovell’s background is filled with a passion for education

Having been in public office for a decade, and coming from a family with a history of involvement in public education, Nicholson-Bovell is well connected in the community. She is a graduate of Milwaukee School of Languages and has been recognized with awards for her labor activism work while teaching at MPS.

Nicholson-Bovell started teaching in 2012 and was assigned a fourth-grade classroom that had previously been used for special education.

“I didn’t have enough tables and chairs for the roster of students,” she said. “The books were all torn up, the paper was peeling off the walls. And they’re like you have three days to transform this classroom.”

This is when Nicholson-Bovell learned about the value and importance of labor unions.

“I called the teachers union and they delivered me supplies,” she said. “I learned about the value of joining the union and it was actually the teachers union that pulled me in. They saw that I was eager, that I was young, that I cared. They started inviting me to meetings. I learned how to represent my constituency, which was Black and Brown families. I taught at a bilingual school.

“And so, that really started to shape my worldview because teachers poured into me. I became a teacher because I wanted to give back to our children and I thought this was how I was going to save the world.

“I saw all the challenges, not only my students and their families had to overcome, but teachers as well trying to be good stewards of the education. I knew that I couldn’t just teach, that I also had to organize. So I would start going to school board meetings.”

Nicholson-Bovell’s public image continued to grow as a regular at community events and rallies speaking about the concerns of public school teachers and labor unions. She quickly found herself on lists of Milwaukee’s most influential young leaders and began receiving award recognition.

One day while teaching, Nicholson-Bovell was approached by a group of organizers from the Working Families Party, who encouraged her to run for public office.

“It was never my idea to run for office,” she said. “I thought they were crazy. I said no at least a few times. And then the state Legislature attempted to take over Milwaukee Public Schools.”

In 2015, Republican state lawmakers attempted to take over MPS, which is something that gets rehashed anytime MPS is under scrutiny. Such plans call for the elimination of an elected school board and instead have an appointed commissioner take control.

“That’s when it clicked for me,” Nicholson-Bovell said. “Someone like me, a teacher, someone from the community I’m serving needs to be at the table if the county executive was going to have a role in this potential new school district. I finally said, yes, I’m running.”

Nicholson-Bovell married Afro-Guyanese husband in 2025

The church can often be a staple for many Black families in Milwaukee. That was also the case for Nicholson-Bovell, whose grandparents were in church leadership.

“We weren’t the type of family that went to church just on Sunday,” she said. “We were the type of family that lived in the church.”

Nicholson-Bovell credits her faith with laying an early foundation of principles. She said she didn’t want to put herself in a box of one single ideology, she added that she has progressive values and is willing to work with anyone committed to bettering the lives of Milwaukee County residents.

“I am always going to stay true to my values because I grew up in the church,” she said. “These aren’t called leftist or socialist values to me. These are the values of God himself and Jesus Christ. These are the values that are stated in the Bible.”

Nicholson-Bovell married her husband, Renwick Bovell, in October 2025. Bovell, an Afro-Guyanese man, has been her rock helping her navigate life the last year.

“When we first met, I was bragging about the city and I’m like, look, if we’re going to date, you need to know that I’m not going anywhere,” Nicholson-Bovell said. “And he’s like, whatever, Milwaukee can’t be that cool. And he came here and he absolutely fell in love with it and he’s loving getting to know it every single day.”

It’s typical for Nicholson-Bovell to be caught having brunch with her girlfriends, a group of highly influential women that includes the future First Lady of Wisconsin, Ericka Crowley.

“Sometimes we’ll spin up to Chicago and do a little sightseeing, or go to a concert,” she said, adding some of their favorites artists are Lauryn Hill, Beyonce and Usher.

“I’m very serious about my work as an elected official, but as serious as I am about my work, I’m serious about my role as friend, wife, daughter and sister,” she added.

Nicholson-Bovell hasn’t been able to escape the negative news cycle during her tenure. But she remains focused on what drives her, the disparities she discovered as a young girl on Milwaukee’s north side.

“While I take accountability for some of the negative stuff, there are some other things that I feel targeted,” she said. “I think it’s fair to say that being a Black woman in office and being in a role that hasn’t ever been held by someone who looks like me, comes with a more intense level of scrutiny. And it comes with bias. We can’t escape that we still live in not only a misogynist, but a racist society.

“We are still trying to dismantle so many of these barriers.”