Indianapolis mayoral election, 2007

The Indianapolis mayoral election of 2007 took place on November 6, 2007. Voters elected a Mayor of Indianapolis, members of the Indianapolis City-County Council, as well as several other local officials. Incumbent Democrat Bart Peterson was seeking a third term. Republicans nominated former Marine Greg Ballard to run against Peterson. In what was called, "the biggest upset in Indiana political history", Ballard defeated Peterson 51% to 47%. [cite web | url=http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071107/LOCAL190501/311070006 | title = Ballard grabs upset win in mayoral race | publisher = "The Indianapolis Star" | date = 2007-11-07 | accessdate = 2008-06-22]

Candidates

* Democrat Bart Peterson, incumbent Mayor, ran for a third term.
* Republican Greg Ballard
* Libertarian Fred Peterson

Campaign

Peterson was vastly considered a lock to win the election by political experts.cite web | url=http://www.theindychannel.com/politics/14528118/detail.html | title = Ballard's 'Biggest Upset' Ends Peterson Era | publisher = WRTV | date = 2007-11-07 | accessdate = 2008-06-22] The incumbent Peterson had nearly 30 times as much campaign money as the challenger. Peterson, who started with considerable fundraising advantages, raised nearly $1.5 million since April and had $1.5 million left in late October. [cite web | url=http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=7239340 | title = Peterson's fundraising far outweighs competition | publisher = WTHR | date = 2007-10-19 | accessdate = 2008-06-22] In contrast, Ballard raised nearly $225,000 since April and had just over $51,000 left in his campaign fund in late October. Peterson spent nearly $1.5 million on TV and radio ads and $113,000 on polling and research. Two weeks before election day, Ballard had still not put up any TV ads.

Issues

The two major issues in the mayoral campaign were crime and taxes. [cite web | url=http://www.wthr.com/global/Story.asp?s=7245317 | title = Candidates for mayor discuss election issues | publisher = WTHR | date = 2007-11-05 | accessdate = 2008-06-22] Residents felt property taxes were most important due to the spike in the tax. Rising crime was another major issue in the election. [cite web | url=http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6461348 | title = Indianapolis Mayor Begins Ad Campaign
publisher = WISH-TV | date = 2007-05-02 | accessdate = 2008-06-22]

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Greg Ballard
votes = 83,238
percentage = 50.5
change = +15.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bart Peterson
votes = 77,926
percentage = 47.2
change = -15.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Fred Peterson
votes = 3,787
percentage = 2.3
change = +2.3Election box candidate
party = "No party"
candidate = Write-Ins
votes = 51
percentage = 0.0
change = 0.0Election box turnout
votes = 165,002
percentage = 26.32
change = +1.32Election box gain with party link
winner = Republican Party (United States)
loser = Democratic Party (United States)
swing =

sequence
prev= 2003
list= Indianapolis mayoral election
2007
next= 2011

References