'You can't have a better role model than Gwen Moore': Mother-son duo makes Wisconsin, U.S. lawmaking a family affair

Taurean Small - Spectrum News

WASHINGTON — From the adversity she faced to the accomplishments she's achieved, Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Moore has made history and broken down barriers. 

Moore was born in Racine, Wis. in 1951, the second youngest of nine children. Her father was a union factory worker while her mother was public school teacher. The family faced adversity for most of her childhood.

"We were poor, but I was never poor in values," Moore said.

She said her mother kept her and her eight sibling disciplined by instilling the importance of reading. 

"My mom had such a fever for education," Moore said. "When we didn't have a television, we had a set of encyclopedias in my house."

After graduating from North Division High School in Milwaukee, Moore had her sights on college. But she would start classes at Marquette University as a single, soon-to-be mother on welfare. That experience pushed her closer to politics.

"I am so grateful to those taxpayers who thought it was worth it for me in my little girl to have food, and shelter," Moore said. "And, trust me, I pay lots of taxes now, and have contributed in so many other ways. I'm glad to be one of the people that's part of the community. "

Her eventual work as a community organizer led her down a path of public service that would see her serving in the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate before securing her a seat in Congress in 2005. The nine-term incumbent credits her mom as her biggest motivator in pursuing this career.

“I told her that, never, ever, ever, would I run for state representative,” Rep. Moore said. “And she kept pushing me. I guess I was always political. But at the point in which it came time to be elected, I enjoyed being in the background. And I just think that I was born for such a time. And it's been a journey.”

That journey saw Moore become the second woman elected to Congress from Wisconsin and the first African American. She’s now trailblazing a path for one of her very own.

I'm so proud of him and the thing that's really similar about us is that he has values.”“Supreme [Moore-Omokunde] is my karma,” Moore said. “He is very independent and, you know, that's both a blessing and a curse. I'm so proud of him and the thing that's really similar about us is that he has values.”

Another similarity between the two: they both ran for elected office representing Milwaukee.

“He's the only one of my kids who really ever was interested in politics,” she said. “The others are interested in politics in terms of following it. But in terms of serving, he was the kid that went door-to-door with me when he was eight years old, dressed up in his little white suit.”

Moore-Omokunde remembers that suit well. 

“I looked like I was Miami Vice or something like that,” he joked. “It was 80-something degrees. It was super hot, it was one of the hottest summers.”

He recalls canvasing different neighborhoods for his mom’s campaigns and getting a first taste of politics.

The Moore family poses for a photo together | Courtesy photo

“I was just wondering what my mom was doing all day and she took me out with her one day,” said Moore-Omokunde.

But like his mom, he wasn't dead set on running for office despite his passion for politics.

“One day I was running away from it and I tripped and fell and it caught me,” he said. “So when people would ask me, ‘When are you running for office?’ I would say 'Never, I'm not doing that.'”

But Moore-Omokunde came around, eventually deciding to do just that. He started by serving on the Milwaukee County Board before being elected to the State Assembly in 2020 just like his mother three decades earlier.

“You can't have a better role model, a better mentor in this business than a Gwen Moore,” he said. “However, at the same time, it has to be Supreme Moore-Omokunde that they're dealing with and that they're having a conversation with.”