Describe your local elections this fall

[StateBoiler]

Fun little thread I think that can give a dose of what's going on locally for the rest of the forum, to show what the rest of the country looks like on the microscopic scale:

Mayor of Rocky Mount, NC - city of 60000, 70 miles east of Raleigh, lays just east of I-95, some industry, good bit of agriculture

After 35 years as Mayor, Frederick Turnage is stepping down as Mayor. There are two individuals hoping to replace him. This is officially a non-partisan race but I've applied the party labels:

David W. Combs
- City Council Ward 5 representative since 2000
- white Democrat (I know he's Democrat cause he's on John Edwards' donor list)
- realtor

Lamont Wiggins
- City Council Ward 3 representative since 1997
- black Democrat
- lawyer

Rocky Mount's politics are best put as racial. Alongside the mayor, there are 7 wards. 4 are currently represented by blacks and 3 by whites. This is the first time ever the city council is majority black. Another main campaign issue is crime, which has increased (something unfortunately I was victim to). Combs is looking to improve the city's business culture while Wiggins is focusing more on improving the impoverished-looking inner-city areas.
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/search/content/news/stories/2007/09/12/campaignfinance.html
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/search/content/news/stories/2007/08/31/crime.html

Only one ward is near a 50-50 split on white-to-black ratio, Ward 4 (32% white, 68% black), and it is currently held by a black representative. There is a contested election in that ward this coming October that some say is more important to the city's future than the mayoral race. The current representative was not elected but was appointed to the seat after the former rep was appointed to the North Carolina General Assembly. Other than race it also comes down to the high costs of utilities currently. http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/search/content/news/stories/2007/09/23/campaigns.html

There is also a race in my ward of Ward 5. All 3 candidates are white so race is not an issue. With Combs running for mayor, it's an open race. Combs has supported an RBC Centura executive that will probably win. There are two other candidates, one of which I'll vote for just cause he came and talked to me. http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/search/content/news/elections07/2007/09/16/ward5race.html

Another ward, Ward 1, is up for election and should be easily won by the incumbent.

http://www.ci.rocky-mount.nc.us/council.html

[jimrtex]

Election of Houston city government. 

Mayor, Comptroller, 5 councilmembers at large, 9 councilmembers from districts.

Races tend to be non-competitive except when incumbent is term-limited (3 2-year terms), so nothing really exciting.  Everyone will wait until 2009 when Mayor White's 3rd term is over.  There are a couple of at large seats open, plus a replay of the special election for Sekula-Gibbs seat, currently held by Rick Noriega's wife.

16 Constitutional Amendments are also on the statewide ballot as Texas tries to catch up with Alabama for longest State constitution (there are currently 440 amendments).  The hot-button issue will be abolishment of the office of inspector of hides and animals.

[Verily]

My hometown in Englewood, NJ, population about 26,000 and overwhelmingly Democratic (so the relevant races are the Democratic primaries unless a Democrat runs as an Independent).

At the local level, we have two elections to the City Council, though neither is in my ward. Council President Charlotte Bennett Schoen in Ward 2 and Jack Drakeford in Ward 4 are up for reelection. All members of the City Council (there are 5) are Democrats.

Ward 2 saw a competitive Democratic primary, with incumbent Schoen surviving a challenge from the county Democratic machine. (I supported Schoen.) She will soar to reelection with at least 60% of the vote, probably more. Ward 2 is one of the two wealthy, mostly white wards (unlike the other, Ward 1, it has no mostly Hispanic apartment complexes, though it does have an area of mostly black low-income housing at the south end). It is probably the "most" Republican. It has a very high Jewish population, about 40% of the ward.

Ward 4 saw an amusing Republican primary, in which the Republican candidate was nominated by a vote of... 6-2. The losing Republican candidate was quoted in the local paper as saying she did not know she was a candidate. Ward 4 is overwhelmingly Democratic (and overwhelmingly black), and Jack Drakeford should get at least 90% of the vote. Drakeford is the last survivor of the county Democratic machine loyalists on the council and a despicable race-baiter and corrupt, but his ward loves him.

Race is generally only a factor in Ward 4 races, though it is true that the Councillors from the other wards are all white.

If I had to guess the racial demographics of each Ward:

Ward 1: 55% white, 25% Hispanic, 15% black, 5% Asian
Ward 2: 65% white, 25% black, 5% Hispanic, 5% Asian
Ward 3: 40% white, 25% black, 20% Hispanic, 15% Asian (my ward)
Ward 4: 70% black, 25% Hispanic, 5% white
Englewood: 35% black, 35% white, 15% Hispanic, 5% Asian

(The wards do not even approach population parity, with Ward 3 being by far the largest and Ward 1 significantly smaller than Wards 2 and 4.)

[CultureKing]

boring, I didn't even get a primary ballot (everything uncontested, or no races). And this the first year I get to vote, oh well.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Nothing interesting. Biggest in the state is probably St. Paul City Council.

I think there's a local referendum on some type of property tax thing though.

[7,052,770]

No local elections.

Statewide, however, are finally starting to heat up.

[Padfoot]

All Columbus Democrats are re-elected.  All suburban Republican mayors are re-elected.

[Smash255]

Nassau County 14th LD


Incumbent Democrat Dave Mejias  first elected in 2003(who ran against Peter King in the 3rd CD last year) is running for re-election to his 3rd term in the Nassau County Legislature is running against republican Joe Belesi, don't know much about him honestly other that he has had ties to the Nassau PBA and was close with the Gullota administration and his campaign is focusing on the GOP five year assessment freeze plan.  The district covers portions of east-central and southeast Nassau County, has a long narrow strip that runs north and south in eastern Nassau along the Suffolk border from central Nassau south and juts out further west in some sections.  The population is approx 70,000 or so and a a whole leans Republican (not sure of the exact amount but the district has about a 8-12% registration  advantage (have seen numbers from a 4,000-6,000 advantage).  Despite the GOP lean, Mejias will likely win re-election.




Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor

Republican Incumbent John Venditto first elected in 1997 is seeking a sixth term.  He is facing Democrat Joe Terino who is an Attorney.  Big issues here revolve around improving then environment as well as some area development programs and consolidating some of the taxes and services to reduce taxes in the Town of Oyster Bay which is the highest Per Capita on Long Island.  Despite the Democrats recent success on Long Island, the Town of Oyster Bay is still in GOP as they control everything in the town.  In fact they won back the one town council seat they did not have in the 05 election (their are three).  The Town of Oyster Nay is also the only town in Nassau Bush won in 2004, winning it by 2.9%, though much of that is due to the Bush bounce in the area in 04 which is long gone, Gore won the town in 2000 by 10.05%.  Not sure of the exact amount but would say registration the GOP probably has an advantage of around 10%



  Demographics (2006 estimate)

population 299,635
white 83.25%
Asian 7.58%
Hispanic 6.57%
Black 1.83%

ethnicities
Italian 31.23%
irish 19.82%
German 14.99%
Polish 7.2%
Russian 5.15%

Median household income $97,934

Median Home Value $556,800

[AndrewTX]

My city of about 90,000 citizens will vote for Mayor, Common Council, Town Clerk, and all the other lovely elected positions in the city.


Our popular Republican Mayor should be easily re-elected, the Republicans look good to regain the majority on the Council, and I look good to be elected to my seat on the Council, and resign as Commissioner.

[MAS117]

We have a mayoral election and an election for several members of the town council. All are Democrat incumbents and will win reelection by a large margin. We also have State Senate and Assembly elections, who are also all Democrats and will win again by a large margin.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

My city of 650,000 citizens will vote for Mayor, City Council, and City Court Clerk on October 4. This is the first time since 1991 that the race for Mayor may be close.  Nine of Thirteen Council districts will send new members to the council.   The elections are non-partisan - the Republican Party has endorsed candidates and sent out a sample ballot, the Democrats have chosen not to. (though a splinter goup has, see below)

Mayoral candidates
His Royal Excellency, The Honourable Willie Herenton (Black D)  The incumbent, our royal emperor.  He will get a strong majority of the black vote, his number in the white community stand around 0%.  Oddly enough, he is a nominal Democrat at best, endorsed Lamar Alexander in '02, and was rumored to support President Bush in '04.  He is circulting a ballot from the "Memphis Democratic Club", a racist black splinter group, that has photos of all of the blacks that they endorse - and the only two whites on their ballot (white Dems who don't have black opponents) aren't pictured.

Councilwoman Carol Chumney (White D) The insurgent, a white female City Council woman.  Totally unqualified, but beloved by white people of all ideological backgrounds because of her pale skin color.  Older white Republicans think she is a Republican because she is white and because she has made a career of complaining about absolutely everything that Mayor Herenton does - though she was a long-time liberal Democrat state legislator.  Because of her dominance of the white vote, she will come closest to winning the election but will hit a "glass ceiling" as white voters will only be about 40% of the electorate.

Herman Morris, former MLGW President (Normal d)An African-American democrat who can unite our community.  The only candidate running for Mayor who is actually qualified for the job.  He's successfully run organizations with huge staffs and budgets.  Former President of Memphis Light, Gas and Water.  Supported by Establishment Republicans because he's the best leader for the future of our city, and many in the Gay community because of his multi-colored campaign logo  He is at a close third place in the polls, but is the only candidate to have gained serious support in the past few weeks.  Endorsed by The Commercial Appeal.

fmr. County Commissioner John Willingham Endorsed by the Republican Party, against the wishes of Party leadership.  May get 2-5% of the vote.  The vast majority of Republicans (about 28-30% of the city) are splitting their votes between Morris and Chumney and are mad at Willingham for further dividing the anti-Herenton vote.

City Council

There are numerous serious contests for City Council.  Currently, there are four white Republicans, two white Democrats, and seven black Democrats on the Council.  Several white Dems, emboldened by the election of Steve Cohen to Congress and Carol Chumney's success in the Mayor's race, are running with fervor.  (White Dems are already over-represented in elected offices proportionate to their numbers of voters)   One black Republican has a shot of making a runoff in one of the council districts.

Memphis is divided up into seven single-member districts, and then two super-districts that each encompass half of the city.  Super-District 8 is the western part of the city and is virtually all black, District 9 is predominantly white.  Several of the races pit multiple Republicans against multiple Democrats and most of them are up-in-the-air as to who will prevail.

[frihetsivrare]

My town in Whatcom County is having a mayoral election.  It may as well be uncontested because the hugely unpopular incumbent, Jerry Landcastle, received only 15.3% in the primary.  His main challenger, Gary Jensen, received 76.2% of the vote.  The town is nearly covered in Gary Jesnen signs.  The city has just over 10,000 residents.  About 1500 people voted.  Unfortunately, due to my age I could not vote.

The mayor is very unpopular because of many things.  Several housing developments of 60 houses or more have gone up in the last few years with little to no road improvements.  There is a road near my house with housing construction on which drivers have to be careful because if they do not, they could drive off the road.  That is because of the angle going away from the centre of the road.  A roundabout was finished in the last month.  I admit that was an improvement, but other streets are in serious need of repair.  Also some city employees were fired at the beginning of the term for no apparent reason.  The mayor also said a couple things publicly that offended some people.  He publicly used profanity to describe the county newspaper and said that it was the nature of one council member to whine and complain.

The results are in large part due to the huge contingent of Ferndale citizens that is opposed to that kind of growth.  The big city in my county, Bellingham (population 75000), has a similar citzenry.  Growth is a very important issue in northwestern Washington.  However the election for Bellingham mayor is much, much closer.  In the primary the top candidate won 26% of the vote.

[Frodo]

Arlington County has some county board and school board races, and though campaigns can get rather lively, the outcome is almost never in doubt in a county almost completely by Democrats.

I am still trying to decide whether I should even bother voting this year since I know with a certainty who will win. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I am still trying to decide whether I should even bother voting this year since I know with a certainty who will win. 

Of course you should; even if only to register a protest.

[Hatman 🍁]

Got a provincial election on Oct. 10th. I know who will win in my district.

[Verily]

Got a provincial election on Oct. 10th. I know who will win in my district.

No come-from-behind victory for Edelweiss D'Andrea?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The only elections this November I can think of will be for Somerville (MA) Mayor and Alderman—I think the challenger visited my house earlier in the summer, because I (inexplicably) have a perfect voting record, even counting the Alderman Special Election Primary they held halfway through the year.

I've got nothing against Mayor Curtatone and will probably vote to re-elect him—he's that typical type of overachieving urban mayor who shows up at and puts his name on every community event, no matter how small or poorly attended.

[Mr.Phips]

The small rural town that I am in will have an election for Town Supervisor.  The Republican incumbent was knocked off in the primary and I believe has no Democratic opponent in the fall. 

[Jake]

We will elect County Commissioners and County Row Offices. State judges also.

The two incumbent two term Republicans (Mead and Litwin) are running as a ticket after defeating four other Republicans in the primary (first contested primary in some time). One of the other Republicans (Keiser) is planning a write-in campaign. The two Democrats running are the incumbent one termer (Bartron) and an Irish guy who I know from Church (Cronin). It's likely that Cronin will be elected as the Democrat. I would usually say there would be two Republicans elected, but Keiser is running as the anti-incumbent and the Mead and Litwin only pulled ~20% each in the primary, compared to Keiser at ~17%. There is certainly some discontent with both of them.

Row Offices shouldn't be competitive at all (ie Republican victories throughout).

[KEmperor]

We have both Town and County elections this year.

Suffolk County:

County Executive:  Steve Levy, the Democratic incumbent, has been cross-endorsed by the Republican Party.  He's pretty much guaranteed re-election with such bi-partisan support, and I plan to vote for him.  His only main competition is Peter Busacca, who is running on the Integrity line of the ballot.

County Legislator:  The County Legislature is divided into 18 districts.  I am in the 6th district.  Incumbent Republican Dan Losquadro is running for re-election against Democrat Bryan Lilly.  Losquadro is the minority leader in the legislature, and has a good chance to be re-elected.  I plan to vote for him.

Town of Brookhaven:

Town Supervisor:  Incumbent Democrat Brian X Foley is running for re-election and I expect him to be re-elected pretty easily.  His opponent is Republican Robert DiCarlo, a former Brooklyn State Senator.  He's been airing some attack ads, but I just don't see the GOP taking back the Supervisor's seat this year.

Town Council:  The Town Council has 6 districts, I am in district 4.  Democratic Incumbent Connie Kepert is running for re-election against Republican Roberta Owens.  I expect Kepert to keep the seat, but Owens is an unusual candidate for a Republican.  She's Vice-President of the local NAACP chapter and Chairwoman of the town Black History Commission.  I'm a bit undecided on this race.

[Smash255]

We have both Town and County elections this year.

Suffolk County:

County Executive:  Steve Levy, the Democratic incumbent, has been cross-endorsed by the Republican Party.  He's pretty much guaranteed re-election with such bi-partisan support, and I plan to vote for him.  His only main competition is Peter Busacca, who is running on the Integrity line of the ballot.

County Legislator:  The County Legislature is divided into 18 districts.  I am in the 6th district.  Incumbent Republican Dan Losquadro is running for re-election against Democrat Bryan Lilly.  Losquadro is the minority leader in the legislature, and has a good chance to be re-elected.  I plan to vote for him.

Town of Brookhaven:

Town Supervisor:  Incumbent Democrat Brian X Foley is running for re-election and I expect him to be re-elected pretty easily.  His opponent is Republican Robert DiCarlo, a former Brooklyn State Senator.  He's been airing some attack ads, but I just don't see the GOP taking back the Supervisor's seat this year.

Town Council:  The Town Council has 6 districts, I am in district 4.  Democratic Incumbent Connie Kepert is running for re-election against Republican Roberta Owens.  I expect Kepert to keep the seat, but Owens is an unusual candidate for a Republican.  She's Vice-President of the local NAACP chapter and Chairwoman of the town Black History Commission.  I'm a bit undecided on this race.

One of the major reasons of the Republican cross-endorsement of Levy was to limit the Democratic coattails in the Legislature as well as no Republican wanting to take him on since he would have destroyed everyone.  Do you think the cross-endorsement helps the GOP limit the Levy coattails in regard to the Legislature and other down ballot races or do you think it makes very little difference?

I agree that Foley will win easily.  DiCarlo's chances are about as good as the GOP candidate would have been against Levy (if they had a candidate)

It really is amazing what has happened to the Brookhaven GOP which was really dominant for so many years, as well as the Islip GOP, and both are basically dead.  It use to go back and forth on who is more dominant in Long Island politics the Brookhaven or Islip GOP.  Now its a back and forth battle about who is more pathetic in Long Island politics the Brookhaven or Islip GOP.

[Sensei]

76 people voted. 4 council members and the mayor ran unopposed. 

[KEmperor]

Do you think the cross-endorsement helps the GOP limit the Levy coattails in regard to the Legislature and other down ballot races or do you think it makes very little difference?

It really is amazing what has happened to the Brookhaven GOP which was really dominant for so many years, as well as the Islip GOP, and both are basically dead.  It use to go back and forth on who is more dominant in Long Island politics the Brookhaven or Islip GOP.  Now its a back and forth battle about who is more pathetic in Long Island politics the Brookhaven or Islip GOP.

I think the cross-endorsement will make little difference down ballot honestly.  I was pretty much planning to vote for Levy anyway, even though he's a Democrat.  I like him, and I think he's done a decent job.

As for the local GOP parties, you're absolutely right that they have both gone into total meltdown.  I expect it will take a better part of a decade to recover, but you never know.

[Smash255]

Do you think the cross-endorsement helps the GOP limit the Levy coattails in regard to the Legislature and other down ballot races or do you think it makes very little difference?

It really is amazing what has happened to the Brookhaven GOP which was really dominant for so many years, as well as the Islip GOP, and both are basically dead.  It use to go back and forth on who is more dominant in Long Island politics the Brookhaven or Islip GOP.  Now its a back and forth battle about who is more pathetic in Long Island politics the Brookhaven or Islip GOP.

I think the cross-endorsement will make little difference down ballot honestly.  I was pretty much planning to vote for Levy anyway, even though he's a Democrat.  I like him, and I think he's done a decent job.

As for the local GOP parties, you're absolutely right that they have both gone into total meltdown.  I expect it will take a better part of a decade to recover, but you never know.

With the way the area has moved politically on the national level they could possibly become basically defunct like the Babylon GOP, Huntington GOP and North Hempstead GOP all are.

[memphis]

My city of 650,000 citizens will vote for Mayor, City Council, and City Court Clerk on October 4. This is the first time since 1991 that the race for Mayor may be close.  Nine of Thirteen Council districts will send new members to the council.   The elections are non-partisan - the Republican Party has endorsed candidates and sent out a sample ballot, the Democrats have chosen not to. (though a splinter goup has, see below)

Mayoral candidates
His Royal Excellency, The Honourable Willie Herenton (Black D)  The incumbent, our royal emperor.  He will get a strong majority of the black vote, his number in the white community stand around 0%.  Oddly enough, he is a nominal Democrat at best, endorsed Lamar Alexander in '02, and was rumored to support President Bush in '04.  He is circulting a ballot from the "Memphis Democratic Club", a racist black splinter group, that has photos of all of the blacks that they endorse - and the only two whites on their ballot (white Dems who don't have black opponents) aren't pictured.

Councilwoman Carol Chumney (White D) The insurgent, a white female City Council woman.  Totally unqualified, but beloved by white people of all ideological backgrounds because of her pale skin color.  Older white Republicans think she is a Republican because she is white and because she has made a career of complaining about absolutely everything that Mayor Herenton does - though she was a long-time liberal Democrat state legislator.  Because of her dominance of the white vote, she will come closest to winning the election but will hit a "glass ceiling" as white voters will only be about 40% of the electorate.

Herman Morris, former MLGW President (Normal d)An African-American democrat who can unite our community.  The only candidate running for Mayor who is actually qualified for the job.  He's successfully run organizations with huge staffs and budgets.  Former President of Memphis Light, Gas and Water.  Supported by Establishment Republicans because he's the best leader for the future of our city, and many in the Gay community because of his multi-colored campaign logo  He is at a close third place in the polls, but is the only candidate to have gained serious support in the past few weeks.  Endorsed by The Commercial Appeal.

fmr. County Commissioner John Willingham Endorsed by the Republican Party, against the wishes of Party leadership.  May get 2-5% of the vote.  The vast majority of Republicans (about 28-30% of the city) are splitting their votes between Morris and Chumney and are mad at Willingham for further dividing the anti-Herenton vote.

City Council

There are numerous serious contests for City Council.  Currently, there are four white Republicans, two white Democrats, and seven black Democrats on the Council.  Several white Dems, emboldened by the election of Steve Cohen to Congress and Carol Chumney's success in the Mayor's race, are running with fervor.  (White Dems are already over-represented in elected offices proportionate to their numbers of voters)   One black Republican has a shot of making a runoff in one of the council districts.

Memphis is divided up into seven single-member districts, and then two super-districts that each encompass half of the city.  Super-District 8 is the western part of the city and is virtually all black, District 9 is predominantly white.  Several of the races pit multiple Republicans against multiple Democrats and most of them are up-in-the-air as to who will prevail.

Pretty good analysis. I don't think that Chumney is unqualified. She's served in Nashville and on the city council. I like that she's feisty, but wish she had withdrawn and endorsed Morris, which would give him a better chance. Willingham is a total joke, but may very well have a Ralph Nader style spoiler effect. I voted for Morris, but I'm afraid Willie will get a fifth term <vomit> Granted, he isn't all bad. He did land us an NBA team, two Fortune 500 companies have recently relocated here, and downtown's having a really great revival. Nonetheless, he promotes a spirit of divisiveness that Memphis can do without, seems content with corruption, is one of the few politicians more arrogant than George Bush, and has gone out of his way to alienate many middle to upper income residents (black and white) who now happily live outside the city limits. It is outrageous that Herenton has called Herman Morris a "boy," told an all black crowd that the election is "about race and power" and has refused to debate his opponents. Can you imagine a white candidate doing any of these things? I'm also uncomfortable with the speeches at churches that all the candidates are making. We really need to consolidate the city and county government, which would guarantee a sane, moderate mayor, who could appeal to whites and blacks. It also really pisses me off that Memphis has been forbidden by court order from having runoff elections for Mayor on the grounds that it's bad for blacks, who are now more than 60 percent of the population. What a crock!