1969 Detroit mayoral election
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Elections in Michigan |
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The 1969 Detroit mayoral election took place on November 4, 1969.[1] It saw the election of Roman Gribbs. The election was historic for Richard H. Austin being the first Black individual to advance to a Detroit mayoral general election.
The election was nonpartisan.[2]
Background
1967 had seen the historic elections of Carl Stokes in the Cleveland mayoral election and Richard G. Hatcher in the Gary, Indiana mayoral, election, the first elections of Black people as mayors of cities over 100,000.[3]
In June 1969, incumbent Detroit mayor Jerome Cavanagh announced that he would not be seeking reelection to a third term.[4]
Primary
Campaign
Twenty-eight candidates ran in the primary.[5][6] The two leading candidates in the primary were incumbent Wayne County
Gribbs campaigned as a moderate, and proposed a nineteen-point plan which placed focus on reviewing both the
Austin campaigned as a moderate, but was regarded to be more of a
Among the factors that journalist Carl Rowan identified as having been a challenge to Austin's candidacy were the fact that parts of the city's Black community were not committal towards him (criticizing him as too moderate), the fact that there was a "law and order" desire among much of the city's populace, and the presumption that most Whites would not be willing to vote for a Black man to be mayor.[12] Many Black community leaders found Austin too conservative for their taste, but were unable to agree on an alternate Black candidate and ultimately supported Austin.[7] Time wrote that, before his campaign, Austin was, "little known even among Blacks," and also wrote that he was, "not the first choice of the city's black politicians," who Time reported had wanted to see William Patrick Jr., the president of the New Detroit community organization, run for mayor.[13]
Beck ran a single-issue campaign on the topic of crime control, running on a "law-and-order" platform.
Results
The primary was held on September 9, 1969.[14] Austin placed first in the primary.[9] This made him the first Black candidate to advance to a Detroit mayoral general election.[6] By one estimate, White voters had comprised 10% of Austin's vote in the primary.[11] By another estimate, they had comprised 9% of Austin's vote in the primary.[13] Overall, Austin performed poorly in White electoral precincts.[6] Black voters were estimated to have made up about 40% of the voters who participated in the primary election.[6] Gribbs and Austin both performed well in areas of the city that were racially integrated.[6] In the results, some read signs that White voters in certain parts of the city were less willing to vote for Austin for mayor than they were willing to vote for Black contenders for Common Council districts.[15]
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Richard H. Austin | 124,941 | 37.7 | |
Roman Gribbs | 105,640 | 32.9 | |
Mary Beck | 71,055 | 21.5 | |
Others |
General election
Both Austin and Gribbs had avoided the issue of race in the primary.[6] After their first and second-place performances in the primary, they each pledged to avoid making race an issue in the general election, with Austin declaring, "we won't have a racist campaign".[6][16] Both stayed true, and made efforts to avoid politicizing racial conflict.[17]
While the election was nonpartisan, both Gribbs and Austin were Democrats.[13]
Despite candidates' preferences not to focus on race, the press believed that racial identity was still a major motivating factor for voters.
Mary Beck ran as a write-in candidate during the general election.[18]
Austin was endorsed by
The election was seen to be a closely contested race.[19]
Results
Voter turnout of over 70% was at record-level for the city's mayoral elections. This came despite rainy and cold weather on election day.[20] Mean turnout in the city's 1,111 precincts was 60.89%, with a standard deviation of 7.21 percentage points. Mean turnout in the 221 precincts that were 90% or more Black was 70.59%, with a standard deviation of 6.64 percentage points. Mean turnout in the 461 precincts that were 90% or more White was 68.79%, with a standard deviation of 6.89%.[9]
Gribb's won a roughly 7,000 vote majority, winning an estimated 82% of the White vote and an estimated 6% of the Black vote.[21] Gribbs swept predominantly White precincts, which saw some record turnouts (some approaching 80%).[20] Austin solidly won Black parts of the city. He lost, in part, due to many inner-city districts having low voter turnout (some as low as 40% in some).[20]
Mary Beck won only around 2,000 votes as a write-in candidate.[22]
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Roman Gribbs | 257,714 | 50.60 | |
Richard H. Austin | 250,751 | 49.40 | |
Mary Beck (write-in) |
Aftermath
Detroit would go on to elect a Black mayor in its next election in 1973, when Coleman Young was elected.[9] Young had been a supporter of Austin's 1969 candidacy.[1]
Immediately after Austin's strong general election performance, top Democratic Party officials, such as
References
- ^ a b Flint, Jerry M. (September 10, 1969). "NEGRO A LEADER IN DETROIT VOTE; Austin and Sheriff Gribbs Top Mayoral Primary". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ a b "Voting Tuesday Will Tell How Nixon Is Liked". Newspapers.com. The Raleigh Register. United Press International. November 3, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ Morial, Marc H. (July 31, 2017). "50 Years Of Black Mayors". HuffPost. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "Out of Detroit Race". Newspapers.com. The Kansas City Star. Associated Press. June 24, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Negro County Auditor, White Sheriff Top Vote Getters in Detroit Mayoral Primary". Newspapers.com. The North Adams Transcript. Associated Press. September 10, 1969. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Black Auditor, White Sheriff Face Detroit Mayoral Runoff". Newspapers.com. The Tampa Tribune. UPI. September 11, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "2 In Detroit Lead In Race For Mayor; Sheriff and Negro Auditor Face September Primary". The New York Times. August 17, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "Head of Detroit Council Abandons Mayoral Race". The New York Times. August 8, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ JSTOR 2561862. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
- ^ "Negro Is Candidate for Detroit Mayor". The New York Times. June 5, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Black Mayoral Hopeful Unites Detroit's Minority". Jet magazine. Johnson Publishing Company. September 25, 1969. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
- ^ Rowan, Carl T. (September 22, 1969). "Detroit's Mayoral Race". Newspapers.com. Arizona Daily Star.
- ^ a b c "Detroit: A Victory for Reason". Time. September 19, 1969. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Detroit Negro Faces Uphill Mayoral Drive". Newspapers.com. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Associated Press. September 10, 1969. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-60917-352-4.
- ^ "Gribbs Elected Detroit's Mayor". Newspapers.com. Chicago Tribune. November 5, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "State, City Contests Run Neck-And-Neck On Sensitive Issues". Newspapers.com. The Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey). The Associated Press. October 24, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "Big City". Newspapers.com. The Paducah Sun. The Associated Press. October 24, 1969.
- ^ "Big City Mayoral Contests Highlight Nov. 4 Election". Newspapers.com. The Paducah Sun. The Associated Press. October 24, 1969.
- ^ a b c Ponder, Stephen (November 7, 1969). ""Turn This City Around" Pledges Detroit Mayor". Newspapers.com. The Tipton Daily Tribune. UPI. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ a b "Mayors Face Array Of Problems". Newspapers.com. The State (Columbia, South Carolina). The Associated Press. November 6, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "Sherriff Barely Wins Detroit Mayor's Post". Newspapers.com. Palladium-Item. UPI. November 6, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "Dems Eye Detroit's Austin for Lieutenant Governor". Newspapers.com. Ironwood Daily Globe. The Associated Press. November 6, 1969. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "RICHARD H. AUSTIN Michigan Secretary of State 1971-1994" (PDF). michigan.gov. State of Michigan. Retrieved November 25, 2021.