Republican Big-City Mayors Are an Endangered Species

Twenty years ago, half of the 12 largest U.S. cities—those that had a population of more than 746,500—were led by Republican mayors. When Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio takes office in New York City on Jan. 1, all those mayors will be Democrats. While Republicans have focused on gaining governorships and congressional and state legislative seats, middle-class Americans have been leaving cities. Immigrants and younger voters who have moved in, for the most part, aren’t voting Republican.

“If you fail to understand the needs of those demographics, we’re going to have trouble with national elections forever,” says Mayor Greg Ballard of Indianapolis, the most populous Republican-run city. “It baffles the Republican mayors. We just do not understand why we seem to have ceded ground in the big cities.”