All eyes in the political world will be focused Tuesday on the governor’s race in Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin is polling dead even or ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a blue state.
But the off-year Election Day will feature a number of other noteworthy contests that could provide clues as to the electorate’s mood ahead of the midterm elections next year.
Here are seven other races and ballot questions to watch:
Minneapolis City Question 2
Voters in Minneapolis will decide Tuesday if they want to abolish their police department and create a “Department of Public Safety” in its place.
The site of George Floyd’s murder last year at the hands of police, Minneapolis has faced pressure from activists to overhaul its law enforcement agency and cut its budget significantly.
The city did slash millions of dollars from its police department in 2020. Confronting a police officer shortage, however, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has advocated putting resources behind recruiting more officers.
Minneapolis has seen a dramatic increase in homicides since 2019. It is against the backdrop of rising crime that voters will choose whether to scrap the police department and replace it with an agency that takes a more community-focused approach to maintaining order.
Buffalo mayor
An upset in June in the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo drew attention to the relatively small race from big names, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
India Walton, a Democratic socialist, beat Buffalo’s incumbent Democratic mayor, Byron Brown, in the primary. She will be the only candidate listed on the ballot Tuesday in the upstate New York city.
But Brown has launched a write-in campaign that could keep him in control of Buffalo. Polls show Brown with a healthy lead over Walton heading into the final stretch of the race.
The contest has emerged as another front in the battle between centrist and progressive Democrats.
Walton attracted endorsements from Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez but still trails an incumbent considered more business friendly and centrist.
Boston mayor
The Boston mayoral contest is shaping up to be another test of progressivism vs. more traditional Democratic politics.
Liberal candidate Michelle Wu, a city councilor, has promised sweeping progressive policies, including limiting the power of the city’s police union.
She’ll face off Tuesday against Annissa Essaibi George, another city councilor who is running a centrist Democratic campaign.
Recent polling has shown Wu with a lead, however, and Wu boasts a star-powered list of endorsements from prominent progressives such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.
Atlanta mayor
Atlanta will select its next mayor on Tuesday in a race that was rocked by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s decision earlier this year not to seek reelection. Lance Bottoms was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party nationally.
Former Mayor Kasim Reed is seeking another term in office and will square off against Felicia Moore, the Atlanta City Council president.
The city’s spike in crime has been the central issue in the race, and Reed and Moore have taken different approaches to address the growing concerns of voters.
Reed has promised a more aggressive strategy to crack down on violence by strengthening law enforcement and adding more officers to the police department.
Moore’s proposal is more community focused, and she has said the city “can’t just arrest our way out of this crisis.”
Polls show the race tight with a significant chunk of voters still undecided in the final stretch. If no candidate attracts 50% of the vote, which looks likely given recent polls, the race will head to a runoff.
Florida 20
Florida’s 20th Congressional District will hold a primary Tuesday for Democratic candidates vying to replace Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democratic congressman who died in January.
The winner of the primary is ultimately expected to win the seat in the heavily blue district. Hastings won reelection in November by more than 50 points.
The prolonged nature of the race attracted a crowded field, with 11 Democrats vying for the nomination. Anger bubbled over this year at Gov. Ron DeSantis’s decision to delay setting a special election to fill the vacancy created by Hastings’s death.
Unlike some other recent special elections, the contest has not attracted much national attention.
Ohio 15
Republican Rep. Steve Stivers’s decision to leave Congress earlier this year created a vacancy in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District that Democrats hope to fill on Tuesday, although the landscape remains favorable to Republicans.
Stivers won reelection in the district by nearly 30 points in November.
Democratic state Rep. Allison Russo is running against coal lobbyist Mike Carey, who is favored to win.
Even so, Democrats hope low turnout in the off-year special could help Russo flip the seat on Tuesday.
Ohio 11
This solidly blue Ohio district opened up earlier this year when President Joe Biden nominated then-Rep. Marcia Fudge to become secretary of housing and urban development.
The Democratic primary in the Cleveland-area district was competitive, as the winner was expected to coast to the win in November.
Shotel Brown, the Democratic nominee, faced a close race against state Sen. Nina Turner over the summer during a primary that served as another test of progressivism vs. establishment Democratic politics.
Brown was considered the establishment candidate in the primary, and she has since been endorsed by Biden.
