 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Michigan |
|---|
 |
The 1973 Detroit mayoral election took place on November 5, 1973. [1] It saw the election of Coleman Young as the first Black mayor of the city.
The election was bipartisan.
In the previous 1969, Detroit mayoral election, which saw a narrow victory by Roman Gribbs, runner-up Richard H. Austin was the first Black person to be a major candidate for mayor of Detroit. [2] [3]
On December 29, 1972, Mayor Gribbs announced that he would not seek reelection. [4] The New York Times wrote that it was expected that the election to select his successor would mirror 1969's election, in that it would see a Black candidate and a White candidate in the general election. [4] Among the Black individuals seen as potential contenders were Michigan state senator Coleman Young, Judge Edward Bell, Detroit Common Councilor Ernest Browne, Gribbs aide Walter Greene, and Wayne County Sheriff William Lucas. [4] Liberal Detroit Common Council president Mel Ravitz was initially seen as the most prominent potential White candidate for mayor. [4]
While Black voter registration had strongly lagged behind White voter registration in 1969, by 1973, the number of Black voters registered was much closer to the number of White voters registered. [3] Ahead of the September 10, 1969 primary, Black voter registration was estimated to be at 42%, compared to White voter registration, which was estimated to be at 58%. [5]
1967 had seen the historic elections of Carl Stokes in the Cleveland mayoral election and Richard G. Hatcher in the Gary, Indiana, mayoral election, the first elections of Black people as mayors of cities over 100,000. [6] In 1970, Newark, New Jersey, joined along as a city of over 100,000 to elect a Black mayor, when it elected Kenneth A. Gibson. [7] Cincinnati joined along with its 1972 election of Ted Berry.
Detroit would not be the only United States city with a population over 100,000 to elect its first Black mayor in 1973. Earlier that year, Atlanta had elected Maynard Jackson and Los Angeles had elected Tom Bradley. [3] The same day that Detroit elected Young, Raleigh, North Carolina, elected Clarence Lightner. [8] Additionally, Dayton, Ohio, elected James H. McGee (who had previously been appointed mayor in 1970) outright to a full term that year. [9] The preceding elections in Atlanta and Los Angeles were perhaps good omens for Young's chances in Detroit, as both city's had also seen strong, but unsuccessful, campaigns by Black candidates in 1969, prior to the successful campaigns by Black candidates in 1973. [3]
In total, nineteen candidates ran. [5] There were five major candidates. [5] The remaining fourteen candidates were largely unknown. [5]
The nonpartisan primary election was held on September 11, 1973. [5]
Two Black candidates ultimately ran, Edward Bell and Coleman Young. [10]
Nichols ran a "law-and-order" focused candidacy. [5]
Ravitz was a well-established liberal. [5] He received endorsements from most of the city's powerful trade unions, including the Detroit Building Trades Council, Teamsters, and United Auto Workers. [5]
Young was considered by the Associated Press to be a threat to Ravitz, as both were seeking similar liberal voters. [5]
Bell was a Republican. Since Detroit was considered a Democratic Party stronghold, his party affiliation was seen as a potential liability for him. [5]
Mogk campaigned through undertaking a walking tour of the city. [5] He was endorsed in the primary by the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press . [11]
Shortly before the primary election, strife arose between the two Black candidates running. At the start of early September, at a nonpartisan Colorado conference featuring Black political leaders such as Julian Bond, and Richard Hatcher, it had been decided that the group would host nonpartisan get out the vote rallies in Detroit featuring Black leaders of national prominence in aims of bringing about Black political unity in the city. However, shortly after the conference ended, Young rejected this plan, as the way it had been pitched to him by Republican Inkster, Michigan mayor Edward Bivens, he was led to believe he would be prevented from inviting nationally prominent Black republican Democrats to endorse his candidacy. Bond and Fannie Lou Hamer endorsed Young's candidacy over that of Bell's soon afterwards. Bell criticized Bond and Young as having jeopardized the city's Black political unity, and of having hurt the chances of a Black candidate winning the election. Meanwhile, Young accused Republicans involved in the planned rallies of having been scheming to aid Bell's candidacy. [12]
On the eve of the primary election, the Associated Press saw Nicols and Raitz as being the front-runners. [5] It saw the two Black candidates, Bell and Young, as being the next-strongest contenders. [5] It saw Mogk as a dark horse candidate, but believed that he might, "be the only challenger with potential to siphon away Nichols support and negotiate an upset." [5]
Having placed first and second, Nichols and Young advanced to the general election ballot. [10]
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Nichols | 96,655 | ||
| Coleman Young | 63,075 | ||
| Mel Ravitz | 52,527 | ||
| John Mogk | 35,458 | ||
| Edward Bell | 25,753 | ||
| Others | |||
While the election was nonpartisan, both Nichols and Young were Democrats. [13]
Young was endorsed by the editorial boards of both of the city's two major newspapers, as well as by the major trade unions. [3] Nichols received the endorsements of the city's police groups, white ethnic clubs, and homeowner associations. [3]
The campaign chiefly focused on the city's very high crime rate and the operations of the Detroit Police Department. [3] Young ran as an opponent of the Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets (STRESS) unit that the Detroit Police Department had implemented under Mayor Gribbs. [14] Nichols had been one of the creators of the unit. [15] The campaign also included discussion of the racial makeup of the city's police department, [16] with Young putting forth an affirmative action plan. [15] The New York Times characterized the election as a, "vigorous campaign that was free of outright appeals to racial fear by either candidate," and observed that this was in contrast to the races in some of the other cities where a White and a Black candidate had faced each other for mayor that year. [1] However, the campaign was still bitter in character compared to the tenor of the previous 1969 Detroit mayoral election. [3]
On September 21, 1973, Mayor Gribbs fired Nichols as police commissioner, after Nichols refused to tenure his requested resignation. [17] Gribbs had ousted Nichols out of a desire to separate the city election's politics and the operations of the Detroit Police Department separate. [18] He also did so out of the belief that campaigning in a general election would be more demanding of Nichols than running in the primary had been, and that it would take him away from his duties as police commissioner. [19]
Voter turnout in the mayoral election declined from the record-high of 60.89% reached in the previous 1969 election. [3] Turnout equaled more than 55% of the city's approximately 815,000 registered voters. [13] [1] United Press International attributed the lighter turnout to the cold weather on election day. [13] None of the city's electoral precincts saw an increase in its turnout rate. [3] While all neighborhoods declined in their turnout compared to the preceding election, the greatest decline in turnout was experienced in White neighborhoods on the city's northwest side, along its eastern boundary, and north of its downtown. [3] Most Black precincts experienced only a moderate decrease, with turnout declining between 10% and 20%. [3] The mean turnout in the city's 1,122 precincts was 50.64%, with a standard deviation of 8.23 percentage points. The mean turnout in the 295 precincts that were 90% or more Black was 52.89% with a standard deviation of 6.86%. The mean turnout in the 448 precincts that were 90% or more White was 50.76%, with a standard deviation of 7.08 percentage points. [3] [13]
While turnout declined, more individual precincts experienced overwhelming outcomes in which one of the two candidates carried them by over 90%. [3]
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coleman Young | 231,790 | 51.60 | |
| John Nichols | 217,478 | 48.40 | |
| Total votes | 449,268 | 100 | |
Coleman Young would serve as mayor until 1994.
Detroit would not elect a White mayor again until 2013. [20]
Roman Stanley Gribbs was an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Detroit from 1970 to 1974. Later, Gribbs served as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. Gribbs was the last white mayor of the city, which was in the midst of becoming a majority-black city, until the election of Mike Duggan in 2013.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 2002 was an election for Mayor of New Orleans; the primary round of voting was held on February 2, 2002, followed by a runoff on March 2. It resulted in the election of Ray Nagin as mayor.
Richard Henry Austin was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as the Michigan secretary of state from 1971 to 1995, the first African American elected to the position, the first to win election to any statewide office in Michigan except the Supreme Court, and the longest-serving Secretary of State in the state. Also, the first Black certified public accountant in Michigan, he previously served from 1967 to 1971 as the first Black Wayne County auditor, and ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Detroit in 1969.
Mary Virginia Beck was a Detroit Democratic Party politician, female activist and journalist from Pennsylvania, most notable for being Detroit's first female city council woman. She was also the first Ukrainian-American of Lemko descent to serve in that capacity. In 1957 she was also elected as the president of the city council. As a member of the council, Mary served for two decades from 1950 to 1970. In 1958-62 she also served as an acting mayor of Detroit city. During that period the Michigan scandalous politician Louis Miriani was the Mayor of Detroit (1957-1962).
The 1973 Atlanta mayoral election was held on October 16, 1973, in Atlanta, Georgia. Vice Mayor Maynard Jackson was elected as the city's first African-American mayor, defeating incumbent Mayor Sam Massell.
The 1969 election for Mayor of Los Angeles took place on April 1, 1969, with a run-off election on May 27, 1969. Incumbent Sam Yorty was re-elected over councilmember Tom Bradley, a win that had a record-breaking turnout. Yorty used race against Bradley to paint him as a mayor who would be open to Black Nationalism and that he was inefficient against fighting crime, both were denied by Bradley as he was a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department before his election to the council.
The 1979 Chicago mayoral election was first the primary on February 27, 1979, which was followed by the general on April 3, 1979. The election saw the election of Chicago, Illinois' first female mayor, and the first female mayor of any major American city, Jane M. Byrne. Byrne defeated Republican Wallace Johnson by a landslide 66 percent margin of victory, winning more than 82 percent of the vote. Byrne's 82% of the vote is the most any candidate has received in a Chicago mayoral election.
The Chicago mayoral election of 1975 was held on April 1, 1975. Democratic Party incumbent Richard J. Daley was elected to a record sixth term as mayor by a landslide 59% margin over Republican nominee John J. Hoellen Jr. Only one other individual has since matched Daley's feat of winning six Chicago mayoral elections. This was the first Chicago mayoral election since the ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
The 1955 Chicago mayoral election saw Democrat Richard J. Daley win election to his first term as mayor by a ten-point margin over Republican Robert E. Merriam. This was the narrowest margin of victory of any of Daley's mayoral races.
The 1971 Philadelphia mayoral election took place on November 2, 1971, to fill the 182nd mayoral term in Philadelphia, with Democratic nominee Frank Rizzo defeating Republican Thacher Longstreth. While Longstreth received many split ticket votes from Democrats, Rizzo found support among unions and the white working-class electorate.
The 2015 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election was held on November 3, 2015. The election was won by the incumbent mayor, Pete Buttigieg, who was reelected with more than 80 percent of the votes, defeating Republican Kelly Jones. The election coincided with races for the Common Council and for South Bend City Clerk.
The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 3, 2020. Elections were held for Clerk of the Circuit Court, State's Attorney, Cook County Board of Review district 1, three seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County.
The 2021 Cleveland mayoral election took place on November 2, 2021, to elect the Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. The election was officially nonpartisan, with the top two candidates from the September 14 primary election advancing to the general election, regardless of party. Incumbent Democratic Mayor Frank G. Jackson was eligible to run for reelection to a fifth term, but instead chose to retire. Justin Bibb was elected the 58th mayor of Cleveland in the general election.
The 2020 Fresno mayoral election was held on March 3, 2020, to elect the mayor of Fresno, California. Republican Jerry Dyer was elected after winning a majority in the primary.
Elections are currently held every four years to elect the mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Elections are currently held every four years to elect the mayor of Hartford, Connecticut.
Beginning shortly after the city's incorporation as a city in 1846, elections have been held in the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. The following article provides information on the elections for mayor in the city during the 20th century.
The 2001 Detroit mayoral election took place on November 7, 2001. It saw the election of Kwame Kilpatrick.
The 1969 Detroit mayoral election took place on November 4, 1969. It saw the election of Roman Gribbs. The election was historic for Richard H. Austin being the first Black individual to advance to a Detroit mayoral general election.
John Nichols was an American law enforcement officer and politician who served as the head of the police departments of the Michigan cities of Detroit and Farmington Hills, as well as the sheriff of Oakland County, Michigan. He also unsuccessfully ran in the 1973 Detroit mayoral election, being narrowly defeated by Coleman Young.
