Forty-one cities out of the 100 largest U.S. cities by population and 50 state capitals are holding mayoral elections in 2024.
Thirty-four of the 100 largest cities are holding mayoral elections this year. Eighteen of those cities currently have a Democratic mayor, meaning 29% of the 63 Democratic-led cities are holding mayoral elections in 2024. Eleven cities holding elections have a Republican mayor, which is 42% of the 26 Republican-led cities. The other cities holding elections this year have independent or nonpartisan mayors.
Fourteen state capitals are holding mayoral elections in 2024, including seven capitals that fall outside of the 100 largest cities. Eight state capitals holding mayoral elections have a Democratic mayor—22% of the 37 Democratic-led state capitals. One has a Republican mayor, out of six Republican-led state capitals. The other state capitals holding elections this year have an independent or nonpartisan mayor or a mayor whose partisan affiliation we have not been able to determine.
Six of these 41 cities have already held mayoral elections this year, and all six re-elected incumbent mayors. Between 2014 and 2023, 66.6% of incumbent mayors in Ballotpedia’s coverage scope sought re-election, and of these, 16.6% were defeated in their bids for re-election.
Of the 41 cities with mayoral elections in 2024, 38 hold nonpartisan elections, and three hold partisan elections. In cities where mayoral elections are nonpartisan, Ballotpedia uses at least one of the following sources to identify each mayor’s partisan affiliation: direct communication from the officeholder, previous candidacy for partisan office, or identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Ballotpedia has tracked the partisan affiliation of the mayors of the 100 largest U.S. cities since 2016, and we’ve tracked the partisan affiliation of state capital mayors since 2021. Between 2016 and 2024, Democrats held an average of 64 top-100 mayoral offices at the start of each year, holding the fewest in 2019 with 61 offices and reaching a high of 65 in 2016, 2020, and 2021. From 2021 to 2024, Democrats held an average of 38 state capital mayoral offices at the start of each year, ranging from 37 to 40.
