Republicans Have a Big City Problem

Republicans suffered two dramatic urban reversals on Tuesday when they lost the mayoralties of Jacksonville—previously the largest GOP controlled city—and Colorado Springs.

In the Jacksonville runoff election former TV anchor Donna Deegan beat Republican Daniel Davis, gaining 52 percent of the vote, while in Colorado Springs ex-Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams lost to independent candidate Yemi Mobolade by double digits.

The results mean Republicans govern none of the 12 most populous cities in the United States, and only five of the 40 most populous, in a sign of their growing disconnect from urban America.

According to data from online election website Ballotpedia the mayor, or mayor elect, of 11 of the 12 biggest cities in the union are now Democrats. The only exception is San Antonio in Texas, which is governed by independent Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

The largest city with a Republican mayor is now Fort Worth in Texas, the 13th biggest in America, following the loss of Jacksonville which ranks 12^th.

Losing Jacksonville is a particularly bitter blow to Republicans, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in particular, as the GOP has held the mayoralty for all but four of the past 30 years. The only exception was from 2011 to 2015, when Democrat Alvin Brown held the post, the first African America to do so.

Professor Anthony Kreis, a law and political science expert at the Georgia State University College of Law, reacted to the news on Twitter.

He commented: "Republicans have had more electoral success in New York City in the last three decades than Democrats in Jacksonville. 26 of 30 years is a long time to be in firm control—tonight it appears Democrats not only picked up the mayor's seat but also the county property appraiser."

Alex Burness, a local politics reporter for digital politics magazine Bolts, tweeted: "Entering this election day, Republicans controlled the mayor's offices in 7 of the 40 biggest cities in the U.S.

"2 of those 7—Jacksonville and Colorado Springs—flipped away from the GOP tonight."

Historian Kevin M. Kruse said: "Imagine if a Republican won an upset mayoral election in San Francisco or Boston or Seattle. That'd be a massive story, with political reporters teasing out all kinds of trends from it.

"Well, a Democrat just won an upset in Jacksonville, which is bigger than all those cities."

Analysis by election website FiveThirtyEight, founded by polling guru Nate Silver, found Democrats made substantial advances in "urban-suburban" counties between 2000 and 2020, gaining an average of nearly 17 points over the Republicans.