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Fiorello La Guardia.

How Mayor Fiorello La Guardia Transformed New York City

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign is questioning what a socialist might accomplish as mayor of NYC. To answer it, it’s worth looking back on Fiorello La Guardia.
by Joshua B. Freeman via Jacobin on April 23, 2025
Portrait of Morris Hillquit.

When Socialists Run for NYC Mayor, Good Things Can Happen

Socialist legislator Zohran Mamdani is running for New York City mayor against a corrupt, unpopular mayor. Morris Hillquit did the same thing a century ago.
by Charlie Dulik via Jacobin on December 19, 2024
Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, left, and former Chicago Public Schools chief executive, Paul Vallas. (Erin Hooley/AP; Nam Y. Huh/AP)
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Chicago’s Mayoral Election Feels Like 1983 All Over Again — But It Isn’t

Decades of failed promises have left voters apathetic or pessimistic.
by Gordon Mantler via Made By History on March 8, 2023
American Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson (center) participating in a rally, January 15, 1975 (Wikipedia Commons)

Black Mayors, Black Politics, and the Gary Convention

The National Black Political Convention of 1972 saw many national giants on the Black political scene.
by Brandon Stokes via Black Perspectives on March 22, 2022
Man standing on top of a phone booth, surrounded by rioters outside of city hall.

The Forgotten City Hall Riot

In 1992, thousands of drunken cops raged against the mayor of New York — leaving an indelible mark on the city’s likely next mayor.
by Laura Nahmias via Intelligencer on October 4, 2021
Collage of a photo of the mayor superimposed on a photo of a large KKK rally in a stadium.

The Los Angeles Mayor Who Was Also a KKK Leader

In 1929, Mayor Porter was part of a long history of city figures who perpetuated white supremacy as a foundational and systemic ideal.
by Blazedale via L. A. Taco on July 8, 2020
Frank Rizzo

Frank Rizzo and the Making of Modern American Politics

How Rizzo's blue-collar populism helped him survive his tumultuous first term as mayor.
by Timothy Lombardo via Tropics of Meta on October 16, 2018

A Hundred-and-Nineteen-Year-Old Book That Explains Eric Adams

A collection of political sermons attributed to a crooked machine boss is a handy reference for New York City’s current political chaos.
by Eric Lach via The New Yorker on October 17, 2024
Eugene V. Debs delivers an antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918.

The Unsung History of Heartland Socialism

The spirit of socialism has coursed through the American Midwest ever since the movement emerged, continuing to animate the political landscape today.
by Miles Kampf-Lassin via In These Times on August 30, 2024
"Manhattan Nocturne," drawing of buildings by Armin Landeck (1938)

Excursus on the History of New York

The machine breaks down: A brief history of Tammany Hall.
by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on January 20, 2023
Black and white photo of Dennis Kucinich speaking, with a Cleveland flag next to him.

When the Mob Tried to Whack Dennis Kucinich

31-year-old Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich took a stand against the sale of his city’s publicly owned electric utility. And he almost paid for it with his life.
by Timothy M. Gill via Jacobin on June 6, 2022
Black and white photograph of Harold Washington, 1980s.

A 1980s Blueprint on How to Be a Leader

A new film shows how Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor, stood up to a majority-white city council to push through infrastructure improvements for all.
by Brentin Mock via CityLab on January 3, 2022
Black Lives Matter Protesters.

The Atlanta Way

Repression, mediation, and division of Black resistance from 1906 to the 2020 George Floyd Uprising.
by Sarah Abdelaziz, Kayla Edgett via Atlanta Studies on October 4, 2021
Children's coloring sheets of overturned police cars.

Magic Actions

Looking back on the George Floyd rebellion.
by Tobi Haslett via n+1 on July 21, 2021

Police Reform Doesn’t Work

A century of failed liberal attempts at policing reform in Minneapolis suggests that none of the city’s current proposals will prevent another George Floyd.
by Michael Brenes via Boston Review on April 23, 2021
Nurses parading down a city street.

Right All the Way Through: Dr. Minerva Goodman and the Stockton Mask Debate

A 1918 debate offers a portrait of the challenges facing local officials during a health emergency.
by E. Thomas Ewing, Jessica Brabble, Ariel Ludwig via Nursing Clio on April 20, 2021
Police shoot pepper spray at demonstrators during a protest
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The Hidden Obstacle to Police Accountability

The police are an insulated political institution within cities empowered to enforce a racialized social order.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Made By History on April 16, 2021
African American man at a desk with microphones, nameplate shows he is Newark's Mayor Kenneth Gibson.

Police Power and the Election of Newark’s First Black Mayor

Fifty years ago, Newark, New Jersey, elected its first Black mayor—Kenneth Gibson—at a moment when there was an urgency to address police violence.
by Andrew Grim via Black Perspectives on September 18, 2020
partner

Liberal Reform Threatens to Expand the Police Power – Just as it Did in the Past

How calls for “real reforms” have resulted in measures that further shield police from real accountability.
by Max Felker-Kantor via HNN on June 28, 2020

In 1930s New York, the Mayor Took on the Mafia by Banning Artichokes

Gangs and mafiosos have a long history with food crime.
by Mark Hay via Atlas Obscura on January 17, 2020
Political cartoon of people reaching toward a woman symbolizing Milwaukee who herself is reaching toward socialism.

When Socialists Swept Milwaukee

Democratic socialists attending the 2020 Democratic Convention won’t be out of place in a city with a long history of socialist governance.
by Lindsey Anderson via Belt Magazine on May 21, 2019

‘It’s a Racial Thing, Don’t Kid Yourself’: An Oral History of Chicago’s 1983 Mayoral Race

How Harold Washington became Chicago’s first black mayor.
by Jordan Heller via Intelligencer on April 2, 2019

Making Philly a Blue-Collar City

Sports, politics, and civic identity in modern Philadelphia.
by Timothy Lombardo via Sport in American History on September 6, 2018

Kings of the Confederate Road

Two writers — one black, one white — journey to Selma, Alabama, in search of "Southern heritage." This is their dialogue. 
by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Tad Bartlett via The Bitter Southerner on November 28, 2017
Cartoon portraits of women who were mayors in 1922.

In the 1920s, the Now-Forgotten Flood of 'Girl Mayors' Became the Face of Feminism

Profiles of a few of the municipal leaders elected in the wake of the 19th Amendment.
by Brianna Nofil via Atlas Obscura on July 6, 2016
Ben Davis Jr. leaving courthouse, surrounded by crowd carrying signs bearing various slogans.

In 1930s NYC, Proportional Representation Boosted the Left

NYC history suggests that the Left might profitably revive proportional representation as a tool to build its electoral strength.
by Trevor Goodwin via Jacobin on January 26, 2025
Drawing of Stella Stimson at a polling place with a notebook.

When a Trailblazing Suffragist and a Crusading Prosecutor Teamed Up to Expose an Election Conspiracy

In 1916, an unlikely duo exposed political corruption in Indiana, setting a new precedent for fair voting across the country.
by Sasha Issenberg via Smithsonian on September 5, 2024

They Settled in Houston After Katrina — and Then Faced a Political Storm

The backlash against an effort to resettle 200,000 evacuees holds lessons for future disasters.
by Jake Bittle via Grist on August 27, 2024
Collage of Stop Cop City protestors and Coca Cola products.

No Atlanta Way

Stop Cop City meets the establishment.
by Sam Worley via The Drift on June 28, 2024
Jimmy Breslin.

The Breslin Era

The end of the big-city columnist.
by Ross Barkan via The Point on May 21, 2024
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