62 of Nation's 100 Biggest Cities Have Democratic Mayors

While Republicans are solidly in control of Congress, Democrats have a strong advantage in city governments. Among the largest 100 cities, 62 have Democratic mayors while only 29 have Republican mayors. Seven are independent and two could not be identified.

The impact of this local control is often overlooked. As noted in my recent book, "Politics Has Failed: America Will Not," more than two dozen large U.S. cities now have a majority black population. These include Atlanta, Detroit, Birmingham, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Cleveland. In fact, even Richmond, Virginia—the capital of the old Confederacy—had a majority black population as of the 2010 census.^[1]

"In each of those cases, minority rule—where national minorities constitute local majorities—allows minorities to protect themselves rather than look to courts as their source of solace." Yale University’s Heather Gerken notes that this new dynamic “empowers racial minorities and dissenters.” What’s different now is that empowerment comes "not by shielding them from the majority, but by turning them into one."^[2]

Because local governments are more responsive to community control than state or federal governments, this new reality opens up the possibility of creative approaches for the nation’s racial dialogue to continue in a healthy manner.

Footnotes:

1. Rasmussen, S. (2017). Politics Has Failed: America Will Not. Salt Lake City, UT: Sutherland Institute.
2. Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, "A New Progressive Federalism," accessed October 2, 2017.

 Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.