What Do Mayors Want

For the last several months, everyone has been talking about the election, but focused mainly on national elections. It's important to remember what's going on in local politics. Recently, CityLab surveyed a bi-partisan group of mayors to find out what they want to see from national leaders, specifically the new President. In doing this, they bring some attention back to local leadership, and the key differences from national leaders:

In the meantime, the opinions of local leaders are increasingly valued, thanks in large part to a global movement that recognizes cities as the source of the vast majority of the world’s innovative ideas (not to mention its economic activity). For America’s mayors, there’s no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the garbage, or so the famous saying goes—there’s just the on-the-ground work of being an executive with an often limited budget and scope of power. So in advance of Election Day, CityLab polled a bi-partisan group of U.S. mayors on the following question: From your perspective as a mayor, what do you want or need most from the next U.S. president?

The answers range from comments on educational reform, public safety, and transportation. What struck me as I was reading the answers were some of these common themes, regardless of whether the letter following the mayor's name was R, D, or I.

Relatedly, Craig Fehrman from 538 pointed out today, all politics is national.