All politics is local because every city is different; when you ask “How do America’s 40 largest cities elect their council members?” you get 40 different answers. This chart describes some key differences.
Government System
M: Under the Strong Mayor system in place in 26 of the cities, the mayor and council are separate, equal, and often combative branches of government (� la the President and Congress).
C: Council-manager systems (what Austin has) feature a council that includes the mayor and a hired-gun chief executive.
P: Under a commission system (found only in Portland), each council member actually runs city departments.
Election System
SM: Single-member districts should be self-explanatory; all but five of the cities elect all or most of their council members in this way. There are two flavors of at-large elections:
Place: In Place systems, like we have, candidates run for specific seats.
Prop.: In Proportional Representation (“prop-rep”) systems, all the candidates run as a herd and citizens get to vote for more than one.
MM: The two cities with multi-member districts elect the reps from them via prop-rep. Many cities, as you can see, have systems that mix single-member and at-large.
# of Seats
This includes the mayors of council-manager cities. Most strong-mayor cities have a council president (or speaker), who is sometimes elected directly (indicated on the chart as “+1”) and otherwise chosen by the council.
D, AL: In mixed systems, some members are elected from districts, some at large.
Terms
Note that Austin is the only city with 3-year terms.
�: In a staggered system, for instance, here in Austin, the city doesn’t elect all the council members in the same year.
Term Limits
About half the cities have term limits.
* In four of them, limits apply to the mayor only.
Election Dates
Most every city has two election dates � either a primary and general election, in cities with partisan races, or a general and runoff election, as we do. Sometimes, both are in the same month, which is why some cities only have one month listed. — M.C.M.
| Rank | City | Pop. (1996) | Gov. | Elections | # seats | Term | limit | Elect. cycle | Elect. dates | Notes |
| 1 | New York, NY | 7,380,906 | M | SM | 51 | 4 yrs | 2* | Next 2001 | Sep/Nov | Partisan; also 5 elected borough presidents |
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 3,553,638 | M | SM | 15 | 4 yrs� | 2 | Odd years | Apr/Jun | Attempt to expand council defeated in June; unified local elections |
| 3 | Chicago, IL | 2,721,547 | M | SM | 50 | 4 yrs | – | Next 2003 | Feb/Apr | |
| 4 | Houston, TX | 1,744,058 | M | SM+Place | 14 (9 D, 5 AL) | 2 yrs | 2 | Odd years | Nov/Dec | Will add 2 districts when population goes above 2.1 million |
| 5 | Philadelphia, PA | 1,478,002 | M | SM+Prop. | 17 (10 D, 7 AL) | 4 yrs | 2* | Next 1999 | May/Nov | Partisan; voters get 5 at-large votes, top 7 vote-getters are elected |
| 6 | San Diego, CA | 1,171,121 | C | SM | 9 | 4 yrs� | 2 | Even years | Mar/Nov | Unified with state/ federal elections |
| 7 | Phoenix, AZ | 1,159,014 | C | SM | 9 | 4 yrs� | – | Odd years | Sep | |
| 8 | San Antonio, TX | 1,067,816 | C | SM | 11 | 2 yrs | 2 | Odd years | May | |
| 9 | Dallas, TX | 1,053,292 | C | SM | 15 | 2 yrs | 8 yrs | Odd years | May | Mayor serves 4-year term |
| 10 | Detroit, MI | 1,000,272 | M | Prop. | 9 | 4 yrs | – | Next 2001 | Sep/Nov | Top vote-getter becomes City Council president |
| 11 | San Jose, CA | 838,744 | C | SM | 11 | 4 yrs� | 2 | Even years | Mar/Nov | Unified with state/ federal elections |
| 12 | Indianapolis, IN | 746,737 | M | SM+Prop. | 29 (25 D, 4 AL) | 4 yrs | – | Next 1999 | May/Nov | Partisan |
| 13 | San Francisco, CA | 735,315 | M | SM * | 11 | 4 yrs� | 2 | Next 2000 | Nov/Dec | System effective 2000; unified with state/ federal elections |
| 14 | Jacksonville, FL | 679,792 | M | SM+Place | 19 (14 D, 5 AL) | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2003 | Apr/May | Partisan; term limits effective 1999 |
| 15 | Baltimore, MD | 675,401 | M | MM | 19 (6 D x 3+1) | 4 yrs | – | Next 1999 | Sep/Nov | Partisan; 3 members elected (prop.) from each of 6 districts; Council president elected at large |
| 16 | Columbus, OH | 657,053 | M | Prop. | 7 | 4 yrs� | – | Odd years | May/Nov | |
| 17 | El Paso, TX | 599,865 | C | SM | 9 | 2 yrs | 4 | Odd years | May | Went from 6 to 8 districts (+ mayor) in 1993 |
| 18 | Memphis, TN | 596,725 | M | SM+MM | 13 (7 D+2×3) | 4 yrs | – | Next 1999 | Oct/Nov | Two superdistricts (each covering half the city) elect (prop.) 3 members each |
| 19 | Milwaukee, WI | 590,503 | M | SM | 17 | 4 yrs | – | Next 2000 | April | |
| 20 | Boston, MA | 558,394 | M | SM+Prop. | 13 (9 D, 4 AL) | 2 yrs | – | Odd years | Nov | Partisan; mayor serves 4-year term |
| 21 | Washington, DC | 543,213 | M | SM+Prop.* | 13 (8 D, 4 AL+1) | 4 yrs� | – | Even years | Sep/Nov | Partisan; at-large councilors must be from (at least two) different parties; Council president elected at large; unified w/federal elections |
| 22 | Austin, TX | 541,278 | C | Place | 7 | 3 yrs� | 2 | Next 2000 | May | |
| 23 | Seattle, WA | 524,704 | M | Prop. | 9 | 4 yrs� | – | Odd years | Mar | |
| 24 | Nashville, TN | 511,263 | M | SM+Prop. | 41 (35 D, 5 AL+1) | 4 yrs | 3* | Next 1999 | Aug/Sep | Vice-mayor (council president) elected at large |
| 25 | Cleveland, OH | 498,246 | M | SM | 21 | 4 yrs | – | Next 2001 | Sep/Nov | Partisan; downsized council from 35 members in 1982; unified local elections |
| 26 | Denver, CO | 497,840 | M | SM+Prop. | 13 (11 D, 2 AL) | 4 yrs | – | Next 2003 | May/Jun | |
| 27 | Portland, OR | 480,824 | P | Place | 5 | 4 yrs� | – | Even years | May/Nov | Term-limit initiative planned for 2000 ballot; unified with state/ federal elections |
| 28 | Fort Worth, TX | 479,716 | C | SM | 9 | 2 yrs | – | Odd years | May | Mayor is District 1 |
| 29 | New Orleans, LA | 476,625 | M | SM+Prop. | 7 (5 D, 2 AL) | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2002 | Mar/Apr | Partisan; council president must be at-large member |
| 30 | Oklahoma City, OK | 469,852 | C | SM | 9 | 4 yrs | – | 2002 | Apr/May | |
| 31 | Tuscon, AZ | 449,002 | C | SM+Place | 7 (7D) | 4 yrs� | – | Odd years | Sep/Nov | Partisan; council members nominated by districts, elected at large |
| 32 | Charlotte, NC | 441,297 | C | SM+Prop. | 11 (7 D, 4 AL) | 2 yrs | – | Odd years | Sep/Nov | Partisan |
| 33 | Kansas City, MO | 441,259 | C | SM+Place | 12 (6 D, 6 AL) | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2003 | Mar/Apr | Each district has one member elected by the district and one elected at-large |
| 34 | Virginia Beach, VA | 430,385 | C | SM+Place | 11 (7 D, 4 AL) | 4 yrs� | – | Even years | May | Current system effective 1998 |
| 35 | Honolulu, HI | 423,475 | M | SM | 9 | 4 yrs | 2 | Next 2002 | Sep/Nov | Unified with state/federal elections |
| 36 | Long Beach, CA | 421,904 | M | SM | 9 | 4 yrs� | 2 | Even years | Apr/Jun | |
| 37 | Albuquerque, NM | 419,681 | M | SM | 9 | 4 yrs� | 2* | Odd years | Oct | Runoff only required if no candidate gets 40 percent of vote |
| 38 | Atlanta, GA | 401,907 | M | SM+Place | 16 (12 D, 3 AL+1) | 4 yrs | – | Next 2001 | Nov | At-large members represent posts (groups of 4 districts); Council president elected at large; current system effective 1996 |
| 39 | Fresno, CA | 396,011 | M | SM | 7 | 4 yrs� | 2 | Even years | Mar/Nov | Unified with state/federal elections; current system effective 1996 |
| 40 | Tulsa, OK | 378,491 | M | SM | 9 | 2 yrs | – | Even years | Feb/Mar | Partisan; mayor serves 4-year term |
This article appears in June 25 • 1999 and June 25 • 1999 (Cover).