2019 mayoral elections: How ‘smart’ are the candidates’ platforms?
Mayors have a responsibility to advance a city’s livability and resilience through commitments around housing, transportation and the environment. While most platforms address these topics in ambitious ways, are such commitments in keeping with smart city trends?
To prepare for the Nov. 5 mayoral elections, we took a look at 38 smart city platforms across 14 cities to better understand the mayoral battleground, including the candidates who will be on the ballots and the “smart” commitments they’re making to constituents. Our methodology for city and candidate selection is detailed in full at the bottom of this tracker.
Read our exclusive interviews with the incumbents and candidates here.
Click on a city to learn where candidate stand on issues like housing, transportation, environment, food and water.
Smart Cities Dive selected 14 featured cities based on which of the U.S.’ 100 most populated cities are hosting mayoral elections this fall. Each city is hosting a general election on Nov. 5, with the exception of Raleigh, NC that is hosting a general election on Oct. 8 and has a runoff election scheduled for Nov. 5.
In selecting the candidates featured, Smart Cities Dive included candidates that publicly released information about their campaigns and/or their smart city platforms. The candidates included were identified as main challengers per Ballotpedia and reporting from local publications. For example, the four candidates in Houston running against Mayor Sylvester Turner were included due to their recognition by local media as main challengers to the incumbent.
Smart Cities Dive selected housing, transportation, water, food and the environment as the featured smart city topics after evaluating the most common platforms among each of the city’s candidates running for mayor.
The majority of major U.S. cities have nonpartisan mayoral elections, including the majority of Smart Cities Dive’s 14 featured cities. Smart Cities Dive indicated which cities have partisan elections by marking the candidate’s party affiliation.
