Local Politics and Mayoral Elections in 21st Century America
Some of the most populated and storied American cities had mayoral elections in 2013. Open contests in New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, for example, offer laboratories to examine electoral trends in urban politics. Cities are facing varied predicaments. Boston was rocked by the bombing of the marathon on April 15. Detroit is roiled by being the largest U.S. city to declare bankruptcy, and Chicago, which had an open, competitive election in 2011, is dealing with significant gun violence. San Diegos mayor resigned in August 2013 due to sexual harassment charges, and other mayors are surrounded by corruption scandals. Houston and St. Louis had noncompetitive elections recently; however, their mayors are notable for their tenure in office, and emphasis is on public policy outcomes in those cases. Leaders in most cities face dramatic changes and challenges due to economic and social realities.
The Keys to City Hall offers a complete and succinct review and analysis of the top mayoral campaigns in major American cities in recent years as well as the politics and public policy management of those urban areas. Emerging theories of urban governance, demographic changes, and economic conditions are examined in introductory chapters; the introduction provides a unique and comprehensive focus on major trends in advertisement, changes in campaign strategies, fundraising, and the use of social media at the local level. In Part 2, scholars with expertise in local politics, urban public policy, and governance explore some of the largest and most noteworthy U.S. cities, each of which had a recent, competitive mayoral election. They also provide updated data on mayoral powers and problems faced by local executives.
Written as lively narratives in a highly readable style, this book advances theory on urban politics by reviewing developments in the field and aligning theoretical approaches with realities on the ground based on the most recent elections and governance structures. As such, it will be a much needed resource to scholars interested in local politics and the public policy debates of specific major urban and metropolitan areas.
Sean D. Foreman is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of History and Political Science at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Foreman is coeditor with Robert Dewhirst of The Roads to Congress 2010 (Lexington Press, 2011) and The Roads to Congress 2012 (Lexington Press, 2013), in which he wrote about those congressional campaign cycles and select Florida House and Senate races including the election of Marco Rubio. He is a Board Member of the Florida Political Science Association (FPSA) and was FPSA President in 201213.
Marcia L. Godwin is Associate Professor of Public Administration in the Department of Public and Health Administration at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California. Godwin has extensive experience in local government administration and served as Director of the Institutional Review Board at the University of La Verne. Her research has been published in the Journal of Public Affairs Education, Policy Studies Journal, and State and Local Government Review. She also has been a regular contributor to the Roads to Congress series. She is currently researching innovation in city government.
Routledge Research in Urban Politics and Policy
1 The Cultural Contradictions of Progressive Politics
The Role of Cultural Change and the Global Economy in Local Policymaking
Donald L. Rosdil
2 Securitization of Property Squatting in Europe
Mary Manjikian
3 Local Politics and Mayoral Elections in 21st Century America
The Keys to City Hall
Sean D. Foreman and Marcia L. Godwin
First published 2015
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Local politics and mayoral elections in 21st century America : the keys
to city hall / edited by Sean D. Foreman, Marcia L. Godwin.
pages cm. (Routledge research in urban politics and policy)
1. MayorsUnited States. 2. ElectionsUnited States.
3. ElectioneeringUnited States. 4. Local governmentUnited
States. I. Foreman, Sean D., 1969 II. Godwin, Marcia L.
JS356.L63 2014
324.973dc23
2014029229
ISBN: 978-1-138-82131-6
ISBN: 978-1-315-74008-9
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
SEAN D. FOREMAN
MARCIA L. GODWIN
MELISSA MARSCHALL
CARLOS E. CULLAR
JOSEPH P. CAIAZZO
DICK SIMPSON, MELISSA MOURITSEN, AND BETTY OSHAUGHNESSY
WILLIAM J. MILLER
ROBERT J. MAHU AND LYKE THOMPSON
FERNANDO J. GUERRA AND BRIANNE GILBERT
LARRY D. TERRY II
SEAN D. FOREMAN
STEVEN P. ERIE, VLADIMIR KOGAN, NAZITA LAJEVARDI, AND SCOTT A. MACKENZIE
P. FRANCES GOUZIEN AND DAVID C. KIMBALL
MARCIA L. GODWIN AND SEAN D. FOREMAN
Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The origins of this book come from prior collaboration between the editors on congressional elections projects and a particular conversation between Sean D. Foreman and Joseph P. Caiazzo. When Foreman approached Marcia L. Godwin about contributing to the project, it grew into a partnership that produced this particular book.
Caiazzo is a former student of Foreman and a Massachusetts-based political consultant who had contributed a chapter about the Massachusetts U.S. Senate campaign to The Roads to Congress 2012 , edited by Foreman and Robert Dewhirst. He planted the seed in Foreman to study mayoral elections as closely as congressional or presidential elections.
With Boston, Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles having elections for open seats in 2013, and Chicago having had one in 2011, the timing was right for a major, rigorous study of elections in the largest and most influential cities in the United States. The national media coverage of San Diegos special election in 2014 further highlighted the importance of mayoral elections within the American political system.
Residing on opposite coasts, Foreman in Miami and Godwin in Los Angeles, we brought together contacts in each others networks and reached out to other well-established scholars to assemble a team to examine the mayoral elections in big cities. What follows is the vision of the editors to provide a clear, complete, and concise analysis of mayoral elections and their policy implications in recent years.
