NPR Special Report:
Election 2001
A Rundown of Races for Mayor, Governor

Listen to Brian Naylor's Election 2001 report

Nov. 2, 2001 -- Although the war on terrorism has captured the nation's attention, there does not seem to be any compelling national issue in Tuesday's off-year elections. National security has come up in the two gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey, and the recovery effort in the wake of Sept. 11 is important in the election for mayor in New York City. Apart from those top three elections, racial issues have grabbed some attention in other mayoral elections. But for the most part, all the politics is local

Virginia
The race for governor is thought to be the closest of the big three. Republican Mark Earley, the former state attorney general, has suffered politically from the budget problems that arose under Gov. Jim Gilmore. Millionaire Mark Warner, the Democrat, is outspending Earley in his second attempt to win public office; Warner lost a Senate race in 1996. If the Sept. 11 attacks are going to resonate anywhere, it will be in conservative, pro-military Virginia. But even Republicans are conceding that they may be losing their eight-year foothold on the governorship.

New Jersey
Jim McGreevey, Democratic Mayor of Woodbridge, came within an eyelash of unseating Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in 1997. He hasn't stopped campaigning since. Heading into the election, he enjoys a sizable lead over Bret Schundler, a former Jersey City mayor and a strong social conservative and anti-tax advocate. Schundler has long been at odds with the moderate wing of the Republican Party, embodied by Whitman and her allies. Whitman, now in Washington as the EPA administrator, only recently endorsed him, and her successor, Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco, still hasn't.

New York
The only truly intriguing aspect of this race -- whether Rudy Giuliani would try to sidestep term limits and run again -- is no longer an issue. What's left is something short of a nail-biter. Democrat Mark Green is leading Republican Michael Bloomberg in most polls by double digits. Media millionaire Bloomberg has spent big on this race, but has made little headway in his bid to outdo Green, the elected New York City Public Advocate.

Atlanta
Mayor Bill Campbell is retiring. As federal investigators continue their probe into city contracts under his administration, three major candidates are vying to replace him: City Council President Robb Pitts, former city official Shirley Franklin, and professor Gloria Bromell-Tinubu.

The outgoing mayor, all three candidates, and most voters are black, and yet race is playing a part in the campaign. A recent article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Pitts has been the subject of a "whisper campaign" because he has a white wife, and that the contest is filled with subtle appeals to racial politics of the "who's blacker?" variety. Franklin, who has been endorsed by former mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, as well as Democratic Rep. John Lewis, has been singled out for making the most overt appeals to race.

Boston
No contest. Incumbent Tom Menino won nearly 75 percent of the vote in the initial primary and could approach that figure in the general election. The only question is whether Menino will beat Peggy Davis-Mullen by a margin wide enough to break the city record. One observer concluded that the city's media outlets are paying more attention to the New York mayoral campaign than to this race.

Cincinnati
Cincinnati is 43 percent black and has a history of trouble between the police and the black population. Last April's rioting, and the way Mayor Charlie Luken handled it, was the driving issue of this contest until the few weeks leading up to Election Day, when opponent Courtis Fuller's background began to draw attention. Thanks to a child-support suit by his ex-wife, a previous bankruptcy has come to light, as has the fact that he didn't graduate from Marquette University. Fuller, a former TV anchorman who trounced Luken in the initial primary in September, has questioned the timing of the questions about his personal life.

Cleveland
Here again, race is a key issue. Jane Campbell, a white Cuyahoga County commissioner with strong ties to with business and labor, is trying to become the city's first female mayor. She won the initial primary, but coming in a close second was attorney Raymond Pierce, an African-American who was a non-factor in the contest until he won the endorsement of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a powerhouse in black politics. The contest has turned ugly, with race-based appeals dominating the campaign in its final days.

Dearborn, Mich.
A city with a large Arab population, Dearborn now has a Lebanese-American candidate for mayor, Abed Hammoud. He was an underdog going in -- 16-year incumbent Michael Guido won 60 percent of the primary vote. Since Sept. 11, Hammoud has spent much time denouncing the attacks and countering anti-Arab sentiment.

Detroit
The race is close between state Rep. Kwame Kilpatrick and City Council President Gil Hill. A controversial fundraising effort by Kilpatrick has thrown some heat on the contest. Some analysts say that Hill can win by portraying himself as squeaky clean, but others say it's still too close to call. The men are vying to replace outgoing Mayor Dennis Archer, who is retiring.

Houston
Republican Orlando Sanchez, was born in Cuba. The GOP is hoping he will play a part in the effort to reverse the anti-Republican trend in the Hispanic community. But incumbent Lee Brown has a comfortable lead in the polls.

Miami
Incumbent Joe Carollo's role in the Elian Gonzales affair is helping him with Hispanic voters, but he has alienated non-Hispanics. Ex-Mayor Maurice Ferre is haunted by the Mariel boatlift, which marred his earlier term. Carollo leads in the 10-candidate field, but a new poll shows that he would lose in the runoff.

Minneapolis
R.T. Rybak led incumbent Sharon Sayles Belton in the September primary and is favored to beat her in the runoff. Belton is the city's first black and first female mayor.

Seattle
Mayor Paul Schell lost his bid for re-election in the initial primary, in which his handling of the WTO protests was the key issue. The runoff pits Mark Sidran, who has been compared to Rudy Giuliani for his tough talk on panhandlers, against Greg Nickels, backed by the Democratic establishment. The layoffs resulting from Boeing's move to Chicago.