Party affiliation of the mayors of the 100 largest cities
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As of January 2026, the partisan breakdown of the mayors of the 100 largest U.S. cities is 67 Democrats, 22 Republicans, one Libertarian, three independents, and five nonpartisans. Two mayors' partisan affiliations are unknown.[1]
Between 2016 and 2025, an average of 64 of the 100 largest U.S. cities by population had a Democratic mayor at the beginning of the year, ranging from 61 to 65. An average of 29 cities had a Republican mayor, ranging from 25 to 30.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
This page includes:
- Who runs the cities?: Mayoral partisanship in 2025.
- Mayoral partisanship: 2016-2025: A chart showing the partisan breakdown of mayors from 2016 to 2025.
- Aggregate vote breakdown: A chart showing votes cast in the most recent mayoral elections in the top-100 U.S. cities
- Mayoral elections in 2025: A list of the 38 cities with mayoral elections in 2025.
- List of mayors: A list of mayors of the 100 largest cities.
- Mayoral partisanship and preemption conflicts: An overview of preemption conflicts between state and local governments.
Click the year to view our mayoral partisanship data in more detail: 2025,2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.
Who runs the cities?
Heading into 2025, 78% of the population of the top 100 cities lived in cities with Democratic mayors, and 16% lived in cities with Republican mayors, based on 2020 population estimates.
The twenty largest cities by population had the most Democratic mayors and the fewest Republican mayors:
As of January 2026, the mayors of 67 of the country's 100 largest cities are affiliated with the Democratic Party.
Note: Ballotpedia used one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Mayoral partisanship: 2016-2025
The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of mayors of the top 100 cities at the start of each year since 2016. Between 2016 and 2025, the number of Democratic-led top-100 cities ranged from 61 to 65, and the number of Republican-led cities ranged from 25 to 30.
Aggregate vote breakdown
The following chart shows a breakdown of the votes cast in the most recent mayoral election in the 100 most populous U.S. cities, as of June 2025.[2] Votes for winning candidates are shown according to the winner's partisan affiliation. Votes for losing candidates are shown in gray.
Mayoral elections in 2025
Mayoral elections were held in 27 of the 100 largest U.S. cities in 2025. The following table shows the results of those elections.[3]
List of mayors of the 100 largest cities
The following table contains a list of current mayors of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. by population.
Note: Ballotpedia used one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Mayoral partisanship and preemption conflicts
Preemption occurs when law at a higher level of government is used to overrule authority at a lower level. State law can be used to preempt local ordinances.[5]
The split between red states and blue cities is one source of preemption conflicts at the state and local level. For example, in 2017, Republican state governments preempted Democratic-led efforts to increase the minimum wage in St. Louis, Missouri, and decriminalize marijuana in Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee.
However, shared party affiliations don't guarantee that state and local governments will see eye-to-eye. For example, New York's Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed a 2017 bill blocking a plastic bag tax in Democratic-led New York City.
See the following pages for more information on state and local preemption conflicts by policy area (Note: As of May 2022, these pages no longer receive scheduled updates):
- Firearms preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- Fracking preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- GMO preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- Labor preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- LGBT preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- Marijuana preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- Plastic bag preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- Ridesharing preemption conflicts between state and local governments
- Sanctuary policy preemption conflicts between the federal and local governments
- Food and beverage tax preemption conflicts between state and local governments
See also
- Largest cities in the United States by population
- List of current mayors of the top 100 cities in the United States
Footnotes
- ↑ In cities where mayoral elections are nonpartisan, Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
- ↑ Does not include Santa Clarita, California, which does not popularly elect its mayor
- ↑ The mayor of Santa Clarita, California, is selected by the members of the Santa Clarita City Council each December.
- ↑ The mayor of Santa Clarita, California, is selected by the members of the Santa Clarita City Council each December.
- ↑ National League of Cities, "City rights in an era of preemption: A state-by-state analysis," 2017
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