A look at mayoral partisanship in 2025

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Tuesday, April 29, 2025, Brew. 

By: Lara Bonatesta

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. A look at mayoral partisanship in 2025 
  2. Florida Senate minority leader changes party affiliation from Democrat to Independent 
  3. Incumbent Jean Stothert and John Ewing Jr. are running in the nonpartisan general election for mayor of Omaha on May 13

A look at mayoral partisanship in 2025 

As part of our continued coverage of local elections, today we’re examining partisanship in this year’s mayoral elections in the 100 most populous U.S. cities and all 50 state capitals. 

Twenty-eight of the 100 largest cities are holding mayoral elections in 2025.

Heading into the year, 21 of these cities had a Democratic mayor, and seven had a Republican mayor.

Nationally, 

  • 65 of the 100 largest cities have a Democratic mayor 
  • 25 have a Republican mayor 
  • One has a Libertarian mayor
  • Seven have independent or nonpartisan mayors
  • Three mayors’ party affiliations are unknown

Since 2016, the number of Democratic-led top-100 cities has ranged from 61 to 65, and the number of Republican-led cities has ranged from 25 to 30.

Fourteen of the 100 largest cities in America hold partisan elections, so the partisanship of those mayors is clear. Eighty-six cities hold nonpartisan elections. In cities where mayoral elections are nonpartisan, Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder’s partisan affiliation:

  • Direct communication from the officeholder
  • Previous candidacy for partisan office
  • Media outlet identification of partisan affiliation 

Two of these cities–Oakland, California, and St. Louis, Missouri–have held general elections so far this year. Neither city had a change in mayoral partisan affiliation.

In addition to the mayoral elections in St. Louis and Oakland, Ballotpedia identified 10 other top 100 mayoral battlegrounds in 2025.

Click here to see a list of all 28 top 100 cities holding elections in 2025.

State capital mayoral elections

Thirteen state capitals, including 10 outside the top 100 cities, are holding mayoral elections this year. Currently, 32 state capitals fall outside of the top 100 U.S. cities by population. 

Twelve of the capitals holding elections this year have a Democratic mayor, and one has a Republican mayor. 

Click here to see a list of state capitals holding mayoral elections this year.

Heading into 2025, 35 state capital mayors were affiliated with the Democratic Party, seven were Republicans, one was independent, two were nonpartisan, and five mayors’ partisan affiliations were unknown.

To learn more about partisanship in 2025 mayoral elections, click here. 

Florida Senate minority leader changes party affiliation from Democrat to Independent 

On April 24, Florida Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo announced that he was changing his partisan affiliation from Democrat to Independent. That same day, Senate Democrats elected Sen. Lori Berman as the new minority leader.

Following Pizzo’s announcement, Republicans have a 27-10-1 majority in the Florida Senate with two vacancies. Florida is one of 23 Republican trifectas.

Pizzo is term-limited but, according to Politico and the Miami Herald, is considered a possible candidate for governor in 2026. Florida Phoenix’s Mitch Perry wrote, “Whether this will affect his putative plan to run for governor is uncertain at this point. He has previously said he was considering the possibility, although he said in January that he would not run as a political independent.”

Pizzo said, “Here’s the issue: The Democratic Party in Florida is dead. But there are good people that can resuscitate it. But they don’t want it to be me. That’s not convenient. That’s not cool. … The party my dad volunteered for with JFK when he was 18 years old in 1960 is not the party today. It craves and screams anarchy and then demands amnesty. That is not okay.”

In response, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said, “Jason Pizzo is one of the most ineffective and unpopular Democratic leaders in recent memory, and his resignation is one of the best things to happen to the party in years.”

Since 1994, 191 state legislators have switched parties. This includes 53 state senators and 138 state representatives.

Ninety-one state lawmakers switched from Democrat to Republican, including 26 senators and 65 representatives. Twenty-five state lawmakers switched from Republican to Democrat, including eight senators and 17 representatives.

Here’s a look at which states had the most state legislators change parties since 1994.

Click here to see our coverage of state legislative party changes.

Incumbent Jean Stothert and John Ewing Jr. are running in the nonpartisan general election for mayor of Omaha on May 13

As we mentioned above, Ballotpedia covers mayoral elections in all 100 of the nation’s largest cities. One of those cities  – Omaha, Nebraska – is having a mayoral election on May 13. Here’s an update. 

Incumbent Jean Stothert and John Ewing Jr. are running in the nonpartisan election. Both advanced from the April 1 top-two primary, where Stothert received 37% of the vote and Ewing received 31.9%. 

Omaha World Herald‘s Henry J. Cordes and Julie Anderson wrote, “While the mayor’s race is officially nonpartisan… that doesn’t mean partisan politics doesn’t come into play.” Stothert is affiliated with the Republican Party. She’s one of 25 Republican top 100 mayors. Ewing Jr. is affiliated with the Democratic Party. In Omaha, Democrats are 39% of the electorate, and Republicans are 33%. 

Stothert was first elected in 2013. In the 2021 general election, she defeated RJ Neary 64.4%-34.8%. She is running on her record: “My vision for the future is obviously to make sure that I see a lot of projects that we started finished, but continue to help Omaha grow and thrive and attract more jobs and businesses here.” Stothert also says she wants to improve public safety, and her website says, “Public safety is my top priority… As we move forward, I pledge to maintain leadership in innovative policing and emergency response.” 

Ewing Jr. is the treasurer of Douglas County, where Omaha is located. He said, “I have a proven track record of 42 years of public service. . . . when I ran for re-election, I had the highest vote totals in both of those elections, so I believe that shows the citizens are happy with the level of leadership I’m providing in the treasurer’s office.” He wants to spur economic growth in the city. His website says, “We will actively work to attract new businesses, support local entrepreneurs, and invest in infrastructure projects that will stimulate economic development and job creation.” 

Ewing has campaigned on a message of change and said the primary results showed that “65% of voters wanted a new mayor… The most important thing an elected leader can do is be responsive.” Stothert says her record in office has been representative of the city and said, “When I became mayor, I said ‘I will be the mayor for everyone,’ and I think over the past last 12 years, I’ve showed that.”

Click here to see our full coverage of the general election. For information on the April 1 primary, click here.