Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2019)
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Thirty-one mayoral elections in the 100 largest cities were held in 2019. In 20 of those cities, the incumbent was Democratic at the start of 2019. Six incumbents were Republican, three were independent, one was unaffiliated, and the affiliation of one was unknown. Four partisan changes took place. Democrats gained three mayorships, two from Republicans and one from an independent. Republicans won one seat held by an unaffiliated mayor. The following shows the change from the pre-election incumbent's affiliation to the 2019 winner's affiliation.
- Mayoral runoff election in Phoenix, Arizona: Republican to Democratic
- Mayoral election in Raleigh, North Carolina: Independent to Democratic
- Mayoral election in Wichita, Kansas: Republican to Democratic
- Mayoral election in Aurora, Colorado: Unaffiliated to Republican
See below for details about each race.
In most of the nation's largest cities, mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan, though many officeholders and candidates are affiliated with political parties.
Democratic mayors oversaw 67 of the 100 largest cities at the beginning of 2016, 64 at the beginning of 2017, 63 at the start of 2018, and 61 at the start of 2019.
This page tracked mayoral elections in the 100 largest U.S. cities in 2019 and noted partisan changes that occurred. The page includes:
- Who ran the cities?: A chart that tracked mayors by partisan affiliation (or lack thereof) throughout 2019
- Changes in party affiliation: A table that tracked results for each 2019 mayoral election, noting partisan changes
- Battleground election summary: Summaries of 2019 battleground mayoral races and links to further coverage
- Mayoral partisanship: 2016-2019: A chart showing the partisan breakdown of mayors from 2016 to 2019
- History of local nonpartisanship: A look at the history and debate surrounding local nonpartisan elections
Who ran the cities?
As of December 2019, the mayors of 63 of the country's largest 100 cities were affiliated with the Democratic Party.
The partisan picture at higher levels of government looked different. Republicans controlled the presidency and the U.S. Senate. They also had trifectas—control of the state House, state Senate, and governorship—in 21 states to Democrats' 14 states.
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.
Click here for a list of current mayors and affiliations.
Changes in party affiliation
Thirty-one mayoral elections in the largest cities were held in 2019. Four partisan switches took place:
- Democrat Kate Gallego won a special runoff election in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 12. Thelda Williams (R) was the incumbent. The general election was held on November 6, 2018.
- In Raleigh, North Carolina, Mary-Ann Baldwin (D) won the nonpartisan mayoral race; she and Charles Francis advanced from an October 8, 2019, election, and Francis announced that he would not seek a runoff against Baldwin. The pre-election incumbent was independent Nancy McFarlane, who did not seek re-election.
- Mike Coffman (R) won the November 5 mayoral election in Aurora, Colorado. Incumbent Bob LeGare (unaffiliated) did not run in the 2019 election.
- Democrat Brandon Whipple won Wichita, Kansas' mayoral election on November 5. He defeated Republican incumbent Jeff Longwell.
Also, on May 4, Scott LeMay (R) won the mayoral election in Garland, Texas, after running unopposed. He succeeded Lori Barnett Dodson, whose affiliation was unknown.
Battleground election summary
Below is a summary of mayoral battleground elections in 2019:
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Phoenix
- On March 12, a special runoff election was held for mayor of Phoenix, Arizona. Former Phoenix City Council member Kate Gallego defeated fellow former council member Daniel Valenzuela. While the election was nonpartisan, both candidates were Democrats who cast similar votes on the council. The race resulted in a partisan change. Thelda Williams, a Republican, served as interim mayor after former Mayor Greg Stanton (D) resigned in May 2018.
Jacksonville
- On March 19, Lenny Curry (R) was re-elected mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. He defeated two Republicans and an independent. No Democratic candidate filed to run in the race. The second-place finisher was Anna Brosche (R), a member of the Jacksonville City Council.
Chicago
- Chicago, Illinois—the third-largest city in the nation—held its fourth open mayoral election in 100 years. Lori Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in an April 2 runoff election. They had advanced from a 14-candidate field in the general election on February 26. That was the largest mayoral candidate field in the city's history.
Tampa
- Former police chief Jane Castor defeated philanthropist David Straz in the April 23 runoff for Tampa's open mayoral seat. Bob Buckhorn, Tampa's mayor, was prevented by term limits from seeking re-election. Transportation and congestion relief were major issues in the race.
Kansas City
- Cty council member Quinton Lucas defeated council member Jolie Justus in the Kansas City, Missouri, mayoral election on June 18. Incumbent Mayor Sly James was prevented by term limits from seeking re-election. Lucas campaigned as an outsider while Justus focused on her experience in the state Senate and city council. A primary election took place on April 2 to narrow the field of 11 candidates to two.
Dallas
- See also: Mayoral election in Dallas, Texas (2019)
- Dallas, Texas, held a nonpartisan election for mayor on May 4 and a runoff on June 8, 2019. State Rep. Eric Johnson (D) defeated City Councilman Scott Griggs in a race characterized by debate over who was best equipped to build consensus on the city council. Dallas has a council-manager form of government, meaning the mayor serves as a member of the city council. The seat was open as incumbent Mike Rawlings (D), in office since 2011, was prevented by term limits from seeking re-election.
Denver
- Incumbent Michael Hancock won re-election against urban development consultant Jamie Giellis on June 4, 2019. Denverite described the election as "a referendum on growth and its far-reaching effects, from transportation options and economic prowess to neighborhood aesthetics and displacement."[1]
Nashville
- At-Large Metro Councilmember John Cooper defeated incumbent Mayor David Briley in a mayoral runoff election in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 12, 2019. Briley was the first mayor to lose a re-election bid since Nashville's Metro government formed in 1963. He had taken office upon the resignation of Mayor Megan Barry in March 2018 and won election in May 2018 to complete her term. Cooper emphasized fiscal stewardship in his campaign and said he'd shift focus to neighborhoods and away from incentives for downtown projects.
Memphis
- Incumbent Jim Strickland defeated former Mayor Willie Herenton, Shelby County Commissioner Tamara Sawyer, and nine other candidates on October 3, 2019, to win election to a second four-year term as mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. Strickland was first elected in 2015, defeating incumbent A.C. Wharton with 41.3 percent of the vote.
Houston
- Incumbent Sylvester Turner was re-elected in the December 14, 2019, runoff election for mayor of Houston, Texas. Turner and Tony Buzbee advanced to the runoff from a 12-candidate general election field. Policy debate in the race centered on Turner's record during his first term, especially regarding his handling of the city's budget and spending priorities. Turner was first elected mayor in 2015.
Mayoral partisanship: 2016-2019
The table below shows the partisan breakdown of mayors at the start of each year back to 2016.
History of local nonpartisanship
The party system is central to state and federal politics, so it might seem puzzling that so many cities run nonpartisan elections. Why is nonpartisanship the norm at the local level when it's the exception higher up the ballot?
Nonpartisan local elections were part of a broader push for changes to municipal government during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century's Progressive Era. Concerned about corruption, one-party rule, and party bosses and machine politics in the cities, Progressives pushed to change the way cities were run. Their proposals included increasing access to citizen initiatives and the option to recall elected officials, replacing elected officials with city managers, and implementing nonpartisan elections.
Advocates of nonpartisan elections say partisanship is irrelevant to much of the work of city government. As a (possibly apocryphal) maxim commonly attributed to Progressive leader and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia goes, "There is no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage."[2] According to the National League of Cities, supporters of nonpartisan elections also think they encourage cooperation between members of different parties.[3]
Opponents of nonpartisan elections argue that they confuse voters who could otherwise use party labels to help guide their local election decision-making. As the National League of Cities notes, proponents of partisan elections worry that leaving party labels off the ballot could encourage voters to use other cues, such as the apparent ethnicity of candidates' names, to guide their votes. Partisan election supporters are also concerned that the absence of party-organized efforts to bring lower-class voters to the polls could skew local elections in favor of higher socioeconomic status candidates.[3]
See also
- Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2018)
- Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2017)
- Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2016)
Footnotes
- ↑ Denverite, "What candidates have to do to win Denver’s May 2019 race for mayor," March 14, 2019
- ↑ Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship Series, "Why is There no Partisan Competition in City Council Elections?: The Role of Election Law," 2007
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 National League of Cities, "Partisan vs. Nonpartisan Elections," accessed August 15, 2017
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