Partisanship in United States municipal elections, 2017
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Partisan stories are fixtures of political coverage at the state and federal levels, but they are more difficult to identify at the local level. Elections for mayor and city council are nonpartisan in most of the 100 largest U.S. cities. Candidates in these cities do not officially run under party labels or compete in partisan primaries.
There are local partisan stories to tell, however. Some cities conduct partisan elections for mayor and city council, and many of the candidates in others are affiliated with political parties. Cities can be under unified or divided government, and mayorships and city council majorities can change party hands. Click on the "Who runs the cities?" tab below to see current mayoral party affiliations and recent changes in party control.
Party affiliations can also impact how local officeholders work with each other and with officials at other levels of government. Members of different parties may oppose each other's policies or form cross-party alliances to pursue shared objectives. In cities that are represented primarily or exclusively by a single party, intraparty factions might emerge. Click on the "Factions & alliances" tab below for examples of how partisanship impacted city governance in 2017.
Local government can also be a testing ground for political movements and policy proposals. Groups that hope to influence the direction of their state or national party may start by recruiting candidates for local office or proposing local ballot initiatives. Click on the "Local government as a testing ground" tab below to see how some groups used local elections as testing grounds in 2017.
Who runs the cities?
Party affiliations
Republicans emerged from the 2016 elections with control of both elected branches of the federal government, trifectas in 25 states, and control of at least one elected branch of state government in another 19.
The partisan picture at the local level was quite different. As of the end of 2017, the mayors of 63 of the country's largest 100 cities were 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.
Blue cities clashed with red federal and state governments over issues from immigration to marijuana legalization in 2017. To read more about those conflicts and other interactions between local, state, and federal officials in 2017, click on the "Factions & Alliances" tab.
Changes in party affiliation and races to watch
Democrats held the mayorships of 64 of the country's largest cities at the beginning of 2017. As of the end of the year, they were down to 63. They lost two seats, to Republican Dee Margo in El Paso and independent Ron Nirenberg in San Antonio, but picked up the one in Albuquerque for a net loss of one seat.
Republicans made up some ground earlier in the year, holding their existing seats and picking up the mayorship of El Paso to bring their total from 30 to 31. With Democratic candidate Tim Keller's win in the November 14 race to replace retiring Republican incumbent Richard Berry as mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, that number dropped back down to 30.
Note: The vacancy in Corpus Christi filled by Republican Joe McComb in May 2017 was held by Republican Dan McQueen until his resignation in January 2017.
Another three cities had the potential for a partisan shift in 2017, with close races between Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates, but did not end up changing hands.
Changes in party affiliation
- El Paso, Texas: Republican Donald "Dee" Margo defeated Republican David Saucedo in the runoff election on June 10 to win the seat held by Democrat Oscar Leeser.
- San Antonio, Texas: Independent challenger Ron Nirenberg defeated Democratic incumbent Ivy Taylor in the runoff election on June 10.
- Albuquerque, New Mexico: Democratic State Auditor Tim Keller defeated Republican Councilman Dan Lewis in the runoff election on November 14 to win the seat held by Republican Richard Berry.
Races to watch
2017
- Atlanta, Georgia: Independent Councilwoman Mary Norwood and Democratic Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms advanced to the December 5 runoff in the open Atlanta mayoral race. A WSB-TV, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Landmark Communications poll released on December 1 showed Norwood leading Bottoms 51.3 percent to 45.1 percent. However, Bottoms won the election by 832 votes.[1] A December 14 recount conducted at Norwood's request did not alter the outcome.[2] Bottoms and Norwood were competing to succeed term-limited Democratic incumbent Kasim Reed.[3]
- Charlotte, North Carolina: Councilwoman Vi Lyles defeated incumbent Jennifer Roberts in the Democratic primary on September 12, 2017, and faced Republican Councilman Kenny Smith in the November general election. Despite polling in October showing a close race between the candidates, Lyles defeated Smith 58 percent to 42 percent in November.[4][5]
- St. Petersburg, Florida: Republican former Mayor Rick Baker challenged Democratic incumbent Rick Kriseman for the mayor's seat in St. Petersburg. Each candidate won approximately 48 percent of the vote in the August primary, so the race advanced to a general election in November.[6] According to unofficial election night results, Kriseman defeated Baker 52 percent to 48 percent in the general election.[7]
2018
- Anaheim, California: Republican Mayor Tom Tait was not eligible to run for re-election in 2018 due to term limits. As of October 20, 2017, two Democratic candidates—attorney Ashleigh Aitkin and former Councilwoman Lorri Galloway—and two Republicans—Boys and Girls Club director John Machiaverna and former Councilman Harry Sidhu—had announced their intentions to run for the seat.[8]
Factions & alliances
Partisanship can play a straightforward role in local officials' interactions with each other and with state and federal officials. For example, Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Democratic-held New York City Council came out against Republican President Donald Trump's immigration policy.[9][10]
It can also play out in more complex ways, such as the development of factions within a party, alliances across party lines, and conflicts between local, state, and federal officials from the same party.
Intraparty factions
Many cities were represented exclusively or almost exclusively by members of a single party in 2017. For example, Democrats held the mayorship in Columbus and all seven seats on its city council heading into its 2017 elections. Although these cities didn't have significant interparty competition, some had intraparty divides in 2017.
Columbus, Ohio
A group of Columbus activists and educators formed Yes We Can Columbus in 2016 to pursue progressive policies in the city.[11] The group, which became an affiliate of the Working Families Party in 2017, fielded two challengers for at-large seats on the city council in 2017.[12] Although they did not end up winning, Jasmine Ayres and Will Petrik both advanced from the May primary to the general election on November 7, 2017.[13]
Following Yes We Can's primary successes, some county party officials suggested the group was a third or minor party rather than a wing of the Democratic Party. "Yes We Can is really trying to undermine the work that the Democratic Party is doing, and mislead voters by claiming that they're Democrats," said Franklin County Democratic Party Central Committeewoman Jen House. "I think, unfortunately for this Yes We Can group, it now appears to be separating from the Democratic Party," county party chair Mike Sexton said. "They're now a third party that's challenging our candidates, and they're out campaigning against them."[14]
Yes We Can members characterized their role differently. "Part of why we're running is not only to shape the future of the city, but this is partly about shaping the future of the Democratic Party," Petrik said. "We think our whole political system is fundamentally broken right now and we need to get money out of politics."[14] In addition to changes to the campaign finance system, the group called for renewable energy policies, Medicaid expansion, and efforts to address economic inequality.[15]
Interparty alliances
The issues that divide the parties at the state and federal levels don't necessarily carry over to the local level. City governments face different challenges and responsibilities than their state and federal counterparts, and their debates often center on issues that don't extend past city or even district limits. For example, the central issue in one city council race in Las Vegas in 2017 was a proposal to redevelop a golf course. Potholes and clean drinking water were key issues in Corpus Christi's 2017 special mayoral election.
As a result, policy debates at the local level don't necessarily pit Democrats against Republicans. Some local issues and objectives unify officeholders across party lines, in interparty alliances.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Together for Colorado Springs described itself as a progressive organization that aimed to catalyze "our beloved community—the Pikes Peak region—into becoming significantly more just, more welcoming, more sustainable, more entrepreneurial and more vibrant."[16] It emphasized grassroots organizing and limits on development.[17]
Although progressives are often affiliated with the Democratic Party, Together for Colorado Springs drew members from across the political spectrum. The group's 2017 candidates included unaffiliated Councilman Richard Skorman, Democratic Councilwoman Yolanda Avila, and Republican Councilwoman Jill Gaebler.[17]
Conflicts up and down the ballot
Democrats controlled many of the country's largest cities in 2017 while Republicans held most of the states those cities were in. With Republicans also controlling the federal government, the stage was set for conflicts between cities and state and federal governments in 2017.
Shared party affiliations didn't guarantee that local, state, or federal officials would see eye-to-eye, however. Democratic mayors also clashed with Democratic governors in 2017, and Republican mayors bumped heads with state and federal GOP-ers.
To read more about the tug-of-war between city and state governments, click here.
New York
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were both Democrats, but that didn't prevent them from disagreeing in 2017. Cuomo signed a bill in February 2017 that blocked a 5-cent tax on plastic bags in New York City. De Blasio supported the tax, saying in May 2016, "Achieving Zero Waste includes significantly reducing the use of plastic bags, which have long clogged our water system, gotten stuck in our trees and littered our city. The [New York City] Council's legislation strikes the right balance, reducing reliance on single-use bags and incentivizing the use of reusable bags, while safeguarding consumers with some logical exemptions to protect vulnerable New Yorkers."[18] Cuomo described the bag tax as "deeply flawed," pointing in particular to a provision that would have allowed city merchants to keep profits from the tax. "Legislation often requires compromise but not capitulation," Cuomo said. "There is no need to pass an overly compromised bill—we can and should promulgate the best policy in the country. That is the New York way."[19]
The two Democrats were also at odds over New York City's subway system. The subway experienced significant problems in 2017, with derailments, fires, and frequent delays. Each officeholder's administration suggested the other should take the lead on solving the problems on the tracks. "Whenever there is a problem with the subways, the city just throws up its hands or sits on its hands," Cuomo-appointed Metropolitan Transportation Authority head Joe Lhota said. "The lack of collaboration, the lack of empathy for the riders—his [de Blasio's] citizens—that is the issue here."[20] De Blasio countered that, "The governor should step up, say once again he's responsible—because he seems to change that message every week or two, whether he's responsible or not. He's responsible. It's clear. Just take ownership and fix the problem."[21]
Immigration policy
- See also: Municipal elections in Aurora, Colorado (2017) and Municipal elections in Miami, Florida (2017)
The Trump administration announced on September 5, 2017, that it would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, an Obama administration initiative that offered relief from deportation to individuals who were brought to the U.S. as children and who met certain criteria.[22]
The repeal efforts faced resistance not only from Democratic but also from Republican city officials. Republican Mayors Tom Tait of Anaheim, Steve Hogan of Aurora, John Giles of Mesa, and Tomás Regalado of Miami signed on to a letter opposing DACA repeal.[23][24] "I think morality trumps partisan politics," Giles said. "I think even conservative Republicans see this is a clear choice between right and wrong and the right thing to do is to embrace these great young people."[25]
Regalado also joined many Democratic mayors in declining to comply with an executive order aimed at sanctuary cities, or cities that limit their cooperation with enforcement of federal immigration laws. The executive order, which President Trump signed on January 25, 2017, aimed to encourage sanctuary cities to assist with federal immigration enforcement efforts by denying federal funding to cities that didn't comply.[26] Regalado responded to the executive order via Twitter on January 27, 2017, saying, "I am an immigrant. The City of Miami will not comply [with federal immigration authorities]."[27]
Tennessee
Nashville and Memphis—which were led by Democratic Mayors Megan Barry and Jim Strickland, respectively—passed ordinances decriminalizing marijuana in 2016. Under the new laws, possession of half an ounce of marijuana or less would have been classified as a civil infraction rather than a criminal violation. The civil charge would have come with a $50 fine rather than the criminal punishment of up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.[28]
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and the Republican-led state legislature overrode the cities' ordinances in 2017. The state legislation, which Haslam signed on April 12, 2017, repealed any laws that conflicted with state drug control penalties and prohibited future efforts by municipalities to impose their own punishments for drug possession.[29]
Local government as a testing ground
Local elections have a lower barrier to entry for new candidates than elections for state or federal office. Cities that are controlled primarily or exclusively by a single party also offer unique opportunities to mobilize factions within the party, and the availability of citizen-initiated ballot measures in some cities offers an avenue to policy change other than the ones through city hall, the statehouse, or the U.S. Congress.
That makes local elections appealing venues for attempts to shape the bench for the state and national parties and to shift state and national parties' policy positions. Groups took both approaches to political change in 2017.
Our Revolution in Minneapolis
Our Revolution, a group dedicated to advancing the progressive policies of 2016 presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), formed in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. Our Revolution National and related state and local groups, such as Our Revolution Minnesota, endorsed candidates across the nation in 2017.[30]
Many of those election efforts were targeted at local races, such as the elections for Minneapolis city office. Our Revolution National endorsed one candidate for mayor of Minneapolis and three candidates for Minneapolis City Council, and Our Revolution Minnesota backed candidates for an additional nine of the 13 city council seats and seven of the nine seats on the city's park and recreation board.[30][31] The Our Revolution endorsees challenged incumbents that they believed hadn't pushed hard enough on issues such as the minimum wage, racial equity, and policing culture.[32]
Municipal elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, but candidates can select a party label to appear on the ballot and the Republican Party and the state affiliate of the national Democratic Party, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), make endorsements in city races. The DFL held the mayor's seat, 12 of the 13 seats on the city council, and eight of the nine seats on the park and recreation prior to the 2017 election. There was also a strong historical correlation between endorsement by the DFL and electoral victory; all of the city council candidates endorsed by the DFL won their races in 2009 and 2013, as did five of the party's seven park and recreation board candidates in 2009 and seven of its eight 2013 park and recreation board endorsees.[33][34]
Although Minneapolitans didn't go to the polls until November 7, 2017, Our Revolution had already had an impact on the election by July 2017. The DFL uses a caucus and convention process, similar to the processes some states use to select their presidential nominees, to make endorsements in Minneapolis city races. Our Revolution members mobilized for the caucuses and conventions, helping their mayoral candidate to lead the DFL endorsement vote, 12 of their endorsees to win the DFL endorsement, and another five to block a DFL incumbent from winning the 60 percent of the convention vote required to secure the party's endorsement.[35] Two park and recreation board incumbents who failed to secure the DFL endorsement, District 1 Commissioner Liz Wielinski and District 3 Commissioner Scott Vreeland, subsequently withdrew from their races.[36]
Our Revolution-backed candidates won the open city council races in Ward 3 and Ward 8 in November. They also won re-election in Ward 2, Ward 9, Ward 10, and Ward 12 and unseated incumbents in Ward 4, Ward 5, and Ward 11. Our Revolution endorsees also won re-election to the District 6 seat on the city's park and recreation board and picked up one of the open at-large seats and the District 1, District 3, and District 4 seats.
Missouri and the minimum wage
Supporters of a $15 minimum wage in Kansas City used a ballot measure to attempt to raise the city's minimum wage in 2017. They first tried to send the initiative to the ballot in May 2015, but the Missouri General Assembly passed a bill, HB 722, barring localities from raising the minimum wage above state or federal requirements.[37] Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Justine E. Del Muro removed the initiative from the 2015 ballot in response to the state legislation.[38]
Advocates of the $15 minimum wage appealed Del Muro's ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court, which reversed it in January 2017. The high court found that the "proper course is to wait and see if this proposal is enacted [by voters] before considering challenges to an ordinance's substance or effect" and ordered the measure to the August 2017 ballot.[39] Kansas City voters approved the initiative, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022, by a vote of 68 percent to 32 percent.[40]
The state law pre-empted the ballot initiative, so the voter-approved minimum wage did not go into effect. However, supporters said that approval of the ballot measure was an important step in advancing the policy. "Without this victory [at the ballot], there is no legal battle [to implement the higher minimum wage]," petition group leader Rev. Vernon Howard said. "It allows us to fight the legal battle."[41]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ WABE, "Atlanta Mayoral Election Results Become Official, Recount Still Looms," December 11, 2017
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Recount Doesn't Significantly Alter Atlanta Mayoral Race," December 14, 2017
- ↑ Atlanta Magazine, "Q&A: Mayor Kasim Reed on Second-Term Goals, Fatherhood, and the Future of Turner Field," September 21, 2015
- ↑ Spectrum News, "Exclusive Poll: Tight Race for Charlotte Mayor Between Vi Lyles and Kenny Smith," October 23, 2017
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Unofficial General Election Results," November 7, 2017
- ↑ Pinellas County Elections, "St. Petersburg Primary Election," September 1, 2017
- ↑ Pinellas County Elections, "Unofficial Results," November 7, 2017
- ↑ Voice of OC, "Galloway Joins the Race for Anaheim Mayor," October 20, 2017
- ↑ The New York Times, "Bill de Blasio Defends New York Policies on Immigration," June 28, 2017
- ↑ Politico, "City Council Considers Additional Legislation to Counter Trump Immigration Policies," March 15, 2017
- ↑ Yes We Can Columbus, "Home," accessed September 20, 2017
- ↑ Working Families, "Yes We Can Columbus Joins WFP!" April 4, 2017
- ↑ The Columbus Dispatch, "Three City Council Incumbents Take the Top Spots in Columbus Primary," May 3, 2017
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Columbus Dispatch, "Democrats Say Yes We Can Not in Their Camp," May 8, 2017
- ↑ The Columbus Dispatch, "Letter: Progressive Dems on November Ballot," September 14, 2017
- ↑ Together for Colorado Springs, "Our Mission," accessed September 20, 2017
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Daily Kos, "Colorado Springs Progressives Won BIG Tonight!" April 5, 2017
- ↑ Office of the Mayor, "Statement from Mayor Bill de Blasio on Plastic Bag Bill," May 5, 2016
- ↑ New York Daily News, "Gov. Cuomo Signs Bill that Blocks NYC Disposable Bag Fee," February 14, 2017
- ↑ The New York Times, "Fight Over New York Subways is as Much Political as it is Financial," July 21, 2017
- ↑ The New York Times, "De Blasio, Riding Subway, Demands Cuomo Fix the System," July 23, 2017
- ↑ CNBC, "Trump Administration Ending DACA Program, Which Protected 800,000 Children of Immigrants," September 5, 2017
- ↑ With Dreamers, "We Are With Dreamers," accessed September 20, 2017
- ↑ USA Today, "1,850 U.S. Leaders to Trump: Don't Kill DREAMer Protection Program," August 30, 2017
- ↑ CNN, "Pending Trump Immigration Action Could Pressure Hill to Act," August 31, 2017
- ↑ NBC News, "Trump Signs Executive Orders Aimed at Cracking Down on Illegal Immigration," January 25, 2017
- ↑ 7 News WSVN, "Regalado: City of Miami 'Will Not Comply' with 'Sanctuary City' Order," January 27, 2017
- ↑ Governing, "Tennessee AG Puts Memphis and Nashville's Marijuana Decriminalization in Jeopardy," November 17, 2016
- ↑ Tennessean, "Bill Haslam Signs Repeal of New Nashville, Memphis Marijuana Laws," April 13, 2017
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Our Revolution, "2017 Endorsements," accessed September 20, 2017
- ↑ Our Revolution Minnesota, "Endorsements," accessed September 20, 2017
- ↑ Minneapolis Star Tribune, "In Minneapolis City Council Races, So Far There's Left, and Further Left," January 2, 2017
- ↑ Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services, "2009 General Results," accessed August 19, 2017
- ↑ Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services, "2013 Minneapolis Election Results," accessed August 19, 2017
- ↑ MinnPost, "What We Learned from the Minneapolis DFL Convention," July 10, 2017
- ↑ Southwest Journal, "Forney Announces She'll Remain in Park Board Race," August 15, 2017
- ↑ St. Louis, Missouri, "City's Minimum Wage Ordinance Remains Effective and Enforceable until August 28, 2017," July 19, 2017
- ↑ The Washington Times, "KC Judge Orders Minimum Wage Proposal Removed from Ballot," September 22, 2015
- ↑ Leagle, "Kansas City v. Board of Election Commissioners," January 17, 2017
- ↑ KMBC News, "August 8, 2017 Missouri Primary Election Results," August 9, 2017
- ↑ The Kansas City Star, "New $15 Minimum Wage Ordinance Clashes with Missouri Law; Legal Battle Likely," August 9, 2017
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