1997 Detroit mayoral election
November 4, 1997
 
Candidate Dennis Archer Edward Vaughn
Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan
Percentage 83% 17%
Mayor before election

Dennis Archer

 Elected Mayor

Dennis Archer

The 1997 Detroit mayoral election took place on November 4, 1997 in the city of Detroit.[1] It saw the reelection of incumbent mayor Dennis Archer to a second term in a landslide victory. The election was preceded by a nonpartisan primary election held on September 9, 1997.

Candidates

Ran

Advanced to the general election

Eliminated in the primary

  • Rosa Garmendia[1]

Campaign

First-term incumbent mayor Dennis Archer was a strong front-runner in the election.[2] Archer performed extremely well in the vote in the nonpartisan primary held on September 9, which narrowed the general election down to him and State Representative Ed Vaughn. Archer had received nearly ten times as many votes in the primary as Vaughn had.[1] However, overall turnout was low in the primary.[3] Archer had vastly outspent his opponents. Before the primary, Archer had spent $800,874 on his campaign while Vaughn spent approximately $16,000.[1]

Archer was a popular incumbent. His campaign had a strong amount of funding.[1] Archer's reputation with voters benefited from improvements in the city's economy and a sentiment that the city was making a comeback.[4] He also benefited from a number of new construction projects in the city. These included the start of construction on a new baseball stadium for the Detroit Tigers, plans for three casinos, and plans for a new football stadium for the Detroit Lions.[1][4] He also benefited from improved municipal services, decreases in crime and new private development in the city.[2] Private investment in the city included the General Motors Corporation's purchase of Renaissance Center to serve as its new headquarters.[5] Capitalizing off of a sentiment of optimism about the city's direction, Archer's campaign slogan was "The hope is real. The pride is back."[6] Archer also benefited from receiving more newspaper coverage than Vaughn.[7]

Lawyer Reginald Turner served as the head of Archer's campaign. He had previously been general counsel to Archers 1993 campaign.[8] Archer's chief of staff, Freeman Hendrix, served as the director of his campaign.[1]

Vaughn sought to cast Archer as a corporatist that was out of touch with the city's working class.[6] During the campaign, Vaughn accused Archer of neglecting the most impoverished neighborhoods in the city.[9] He also accused Vaughn of giving corporate interests control of the city, pointing to proposals by Archer of moving the city government's main offices to the General Motors Building and of permitting the Founders Society to manage the Detroit Institute of Arts.[1]

Endorsements

The editorial board of the Detroit Free Press endorsed Archer on September 5. They regarded Archer;'s term as having "more pluses than minuses". They wrote,

We recommend a strong vote for giving Dennis Archer a second term. He hasn't been a perfect mayor, and the progress surely isn't coming fast enough. But he, far more than Mr. Vaughn, seems able to lead the city toward better time and solid progress. On that basis, we think he deserve re-election.[10]

Polls

Primary election

Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample[lower-alpha 1] Margin
of error		 Dennis
Archer		 Rosa C.
Garmendia		 Ed
Vaughan		 Others
EPIC/MRA for Detroit Free Press, WDIV-TV, WXYZ-TV[11] June 19, 2001 1,000 ± 3% 87% 1% 9% 3%

Results

Primary election

1997 Detroit mayoral primary election[12]
Nonpartisan election
Candidate Votes  %
Dennis Archer (incumbent) 85,540 82.26
Edward Vaughn 16,512 15.88
Rosa Garmendia 1,939 1.86
Total votes 103,991 100

General election

Archer received 83% of the vote, while Vaughn received 17% of the vote.[13] Archer's victory was the largest in a Detroit mayoral election since Louis Miriani received 85% of the vote over John J. Beck in the 1957 election.[14] Voter turnout was under 30%.[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 McGraw, Bill; McConnell, Darci (September 10, 1997). "On roll, Archer crushes 2 foes". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Detroit's Mayor Breezes in Primary". Chicago Tribune. September 10, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  3. ↑ "AllPolitics - New York, Detroit Mayoral Primaries - Sep. 10, 1997". CNN. September 10, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Berke, Richard L. (November 5, 1997). "The 1997 Elections: Mayoral Races; For Incumbents in Cities, Celebrations Came Easily". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ "Archer gets an easy win". Lansing State Journal. Associated Press. November 5, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 McGraw, Bill; McConnell, Darci; Dixon, Jennifer (November 5, 1997). "Detroit Chooses 4 more years of Archer". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Borquez, Julio; Wasserman, Donna (January 1, 2006). "Patterns of press coverage of mayoral campaigns: Comparing Detroit and Los Angeles". The Social Science Journal. 43 (3): 375–391. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2006.04.015. ISSN 0362-3319. S2CID 145605157. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  8. ↑ McCracken, Jeffrey (April 3, 2000). "Archer's campaign chief of '97 joins Clark Hill". Crain's Detroit Business. 16 (14): 44. ProQuest 212253931.
  9. ↑ "AllPolitics - Election '97 - Mayor's Races". CNN. November 1997. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Mayoral Primary: Dennis Archer can grow into the builder Detroit needs". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. September 5, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Free Press Election Day Poll". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. September 10, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Election Results". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. September 11, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Roundup". Washington Post. November 11, 1997. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  14. 1 2 McGraw, Bill; McConnell, Darci; Dixon, Jennifer (November 5, 2007). "Detroit's mayoral race no contest; victory margin biggest in 4 decades". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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