By David W. Burns and Art Slater
November 20, 2006

With the November 7 elections now over, mayoral incumbents returning to office are doing so with high voter approval. Incumbents returning to office include Anaheim (CA) Mayor Curt Pringle with 79 percent of the vote, Ann Arbor (MI) Mayor John Hieftje with 79 percent, Santa Ana (CA) Mayor Miguel A. Pulido with 68 percent, Louisville (KY) Mayor Jerry E. Abramson with 67 percent, and Providence (RI) Mayor David N. Cicilline with 83 percent.

Larger cities, such as San Jose (CA) and Washington (DC), will be welcoming new mayors. San Jose elected Councilmember Chuck Reed with 59 percent in what appeared early on as a hotly contested election against Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez.

Washington (DC) overwhelmingly elected Adrian M. Fenty with 90 percent of the vote. Washington’s mayoral election was largely decided in early September during the primary, where Fenty beat out City Council Chair Linda Cropp in the Democratic primary 57 percent to 31 percent.

The mayoral election in Shreveport (LA) was one of historical significance as Cedric Glover was elected with 53 percent to become the city’s first African-American mayor.

Traditionally, a substantial number of incumbents are returned to office during each election cycle. Despite the high margins won by these incumbents in their individual races, elections results are showing that only 55 percent will be returning to office, the lowest number in previous years, compared to 70 percent in 2004. San Jose, Washington, and Shreveport did not have a sitting mayor running for re-election.

As U.S.Mayor goes to press, a portion of the mayoral offices remain to be determined because of their council-manager form of government where the city council chooses the mayor. Readers are invited to visit the usmayors.org web site for the latest updates at usmayors.org/elections