By Ed Somers
September 20, 2010

In selecting Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence to serve as his Lt. Governor candidate on August 29, Lansing Mayor and Democratic Governor candidate Virg Bernero has put two mayors on the top of the ticket in the statehouse race in Michigan. Lawrence is a long-time member and Trustee of The U.S. Conference of Mayors.

But the Bernero-Lawrence ticket is not the only statewide race featuring mayors this year. There are currently eight mayors or former mayors seeking the governorship in their states, five seeking to be lieutenant governor, at least one running for the U.S. Senate, and six running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition, there are a number of sitting officials running for re-election who were former mayors - such as Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.

Below is a chart showing some of the key races featuring mayors or former mayors. Of course, there may be other candidates running who served as mayors at some point in their career. If you know of any, e-mail them to esomers@usmayors.org.

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline won a hard-fought primary September 14 to secure the Democratic nomination for Congress. Cicilline - a Conference of Mayors Advisory Board Member and former Committee Chairman - captured 37 percent of the vote in the four-way primary, far ahead of the 23 percent garnered by the second place finisher. And Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett won his primary in a landslide, and is now the Democratic nominee for governor in Wisconsin.