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Turnout | 34.1% [1] | ||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Indiana |
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The Indianapolis mayoral election of 1991 took place on November 5, 1991 and saw the election of Republican Stephen Goldsmith. [2]
Primaries were held in May. [2]
State senator Louis Mahern won the Democratic primary. [2]
Following his failed 1990 run for Secretary of State, incumbent Republican mayor William Hudnut III announced in December 1990 that he would not seek reelection in the following year's election. [2]
Marion County prosecutor Stephen Goldsmith defeated state senator Virginia Blankenbaker for the Republican nomination. [2] Before the primary, Goldsmith had secured the endorsement of the county Republican caucus. [2] Blankenbaker unsuccessfully sought to win by attracting crossover votes by Democrats. [2]
On education, Goldsmith was a supporter of school choice, increased parental involvement in education, and an opponent of court ordered desegregation busing. [2] Mahern similarly supported school choice and argued for the need to reestablish neighborhood schools. [2]
Both candidates supported completing the construction of the Circle Centre mall. [2] Goldsmith, however, promised not to spend any more public funds on it. [2]
On crime, both candidates supported community policing. [2] Mahern supported implementing a waiting period for the purchase of guns. [2]
Both candidates argued that the city needed to undertake infrastructure improvements. [2] Both candidates opposed raising property taxes to fund such improvements. [2] Mahern was supportive of an increase in the city's sewer tax, and sought to create a commuter tax. [2] Goldsmith was open to increasing user fees to pay for infrastructure expenditures. [2] The two candidates disagreed on the expense of infrastructure demands. Mahern endorsed the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce's report on infrastructure, while Goldsmith contended that between $100 and 200 million could be cut from the report's $1.1 billion cost estimate. [2] Both candidates proposed selling municipal assets in order to raise funds. [2]
Less than half of the city's 417,000 eligible voters participated in the election. [2]
Mahern lost a significant share of the traditionally-Democratic Catholic vote, which some experts attributed to his stance on abortion. [2] Mahern received strong support from African American voters. [2] Goldsmith overwhelming won the city's outlying, primarily white, precincts. [2]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
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Republican | Stephen Goldsmith | 124,100 | 52.2 | |
Democratic | Louis Mahern | 109,761 | 46.1 | |
Turnout | 233,861 | |||
Majority | 14,339 | |||
Republican hold |
Preceded by 1987 |
Indianapolis mayoral election 1991 |
Succeeded by 1995 |