With less than a week until Election Day, let’s take a quick look at the 2025 mayoral race.
Californians voted on 50 proposals in the redistricting battle.
Redistricting and voting rights are in the spotlight as Californians vote on Proposition 50.
Although 2025 is not a year for midterm or presidential elections, important elections such as mayoral elections are still being held in major cities across the United States.
From New York to Seattle, Boston to Atlanta, major cities across the country are electing new leaders, and like New York City, they will feature candidates who were little known to the public a few months ago.
In some races, like the Minneapolis mayoral race, the incumbent faces off against a potential challenger from the same party.
Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York City, and Seattle have a combined population of about 11.8 million people, and the largest mayoral elections will be held on November 4th.
Here’s what you need to know before Election Day.
atlanta
Democrat Andre Dickens is seeking re-election as mayor of Atlanta. The incumbent and former Atlanta City Council member faces three challengers for the city’s leadership position.
- Helmut Domagalski, LGBTQIA+ advocate and founder of a local non-profit
- Kalema Jackson, former Atlanta police officer
- Eddie Andrew Meredith, local community organizer
boston
Popular Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu is running essentially unopposed for re-election in Boston.
Her only challenger, Josh Kraft, the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, withdrew from the race in September after finishing second to Wu by nearly 50 points in the Boston mayoral primary.
cleveland
Democratic Mayor Justin Bibb is running for a second term against Republican Laverne Gore.
According to WKYC, Bibb and Gore were the only two candidates to submit enough signatures from registered voters by the county’s June 11 deadline, so no primary election was held to narrow the field down to two candidates.
detroit
Democrats Mary Sheffield and Solomon Kinloch Jr. are running for Michigan governor in 2026 and are vying to succeed retiring Mayor Mike Duggan.
Sheffield, the current Detroit City Council president, plans to run in November against Kinloch Jr., senior pastor of Detroit’s Triumph Church. In the nonpartisan primary, in which the top two candidates advance to the general election, Mr. Sheffield comfortably won with about 50% of the vote, while Mr. Kinloch Jr. received about 17%.
minneapolis
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey is seeking a third term, but faces a challenge from the left in Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh. Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) members competed for their party’s support.
Mr. Fateh won the DFL’s endorsement at the party’s convention in July, but the endorsement was withdrawn after Mr. Frei complained of technical problems during the vote to determine the winner.
On October 13, Fateh secured the support of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, according to MPR News. Meanwhile, Frey is preparing for President Donald Trump’s possible deployment of the National Guard to the city.
new york city
One of the most high-profile races considering President Trump’s interest, Democratic candidate Congressman Zoran Mamdani, independent former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa are facing off.
Earlier this year, Mamdani pulled off an electoral upset by defeating Cuomo in the Democratic primary, prompting Cuomo to run as an independent after his defeat.
Trump, who was born in New York City, has sought to influence the race by threatening to withhold federal funding from his former hometown if Mamdani wins on election day. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams has dropped his bid for re-election, but will appear on the ballot as an independent.
seattle
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell also faces a challenge from the left in progressive organizer Katie Wilson.
The campaign is already seeing early electoral turmoil. In the nonpartisan primary for mayor, in which the top two candidates advance to the general election, Mr. Wilson defeated Mr. Harrell 50 to 41, and both candidates advanced to the general election.
Political consultant Crystal Fincher told Axios that Wilson’s victory in August was a “terrifying” sign for Harrell’s re-election bid.
“It’s extremely rare for someone who gets over 50% of votes in a primary to lose,” Fincher said.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact us at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow us at X @fern_cerv_.
