Mayors and Mayoral Careers

Abstract

Utilizing data from a survey of cities with populations of 100,000 or more, we examine the background characteristics and political careers of large-city mayors. The background characteristics of this elite group are substantially different from the mass public's but are similar to elected officials' at other levels of government. At the mayoral level electoral turnover is frequent, and partisan change is not uncommon. However, most of the turnover results from voluntary retirement rather than from electoral defeat. Thus the argument that nonrepresentativeness resulting from background and attitudinal differences between the elite and mass public is mitigated through electorally induced responsiveness is suspect.