Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb addresses attendees of a Cleveland WNBA event celebrating the return of professional women's basketball to Ohio, Sept. 16, 2025, at Rocket Arena, in Cleveland.
Solomon Kinloch Jr. (L) and Mary Sheffield (R).
Incumbent Jacob Frey (L) and challenger Omar Fateh (R).

Although 2025 is not a midterm or presidential election year, important races are still being held, including mayoral contests in major cities across the United States.

From New York to Seattle and Boston to Atlanta, major cities across the U.S. are set to elect new leaders, featuring candidates who were relatively unknown to the general public only months before, as in New York City.

Other races feature incumbents facing off with up-and-coming challengers from the same party, like the race for the Minneapolis mayor’s seat.

Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York City, and Seattle, with a combined population of about 11.8 million, feature the largest mayoral races voting on Nov. 4.

Here is what you need to know ahead of Election Day.

Atlanta

Democrat Andre Dickens is seeking reelection as Mayor of Atlanta. The incumbent and former Atlanta City Councilmember is facing three challengers seeking to take his place as the city’s leader.

  • Helmut Domagalski, an LGBTQIA+ advocate and the founder of a local nonprofit
  • Kalema Jackson, a former Atlanta police officer
  • Eddie Andrew Meredith, a local community organizer

Boston

Popular Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu is running basically unopposed for reelection in Boston.

Her only challenger, Josh Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, dropped out of the race in September after coming second in the Boston mayoral primary, almost 50 points behind Wu.

Cleveland

Democratic mayor Justin Bibb is running for a second term against Republican Laverne Gore.

No primary election was held to whittle down the field to two, as Bibb and Gore were the only two candidates who filed enough signatures from registered voters before the county’s June 11 deadline, according to WKYC.

Detroit

Democrats Mary Sheffield and Solomon Kinloch Jr. are vying to succeed outgoing mayor Mike Duggan, who is running for governor of Michigan in 2026.

Sheffield, the current president of the Detroit City Council, will run in November against Kinloch Jr., the senior pastor of Triumph Church in Detroit. In the non-partisan primary, where the top two candidates advance to the general election, Sheffield won comfortably with about 50% of the vote, while Kinloch Jr. took about 17%.

Minneapolis

Incumbent Democrat Mayor Jacob Frey is seeking a third term in office, but faces a challenge from the left in the form of democratic socialist Omar Fateh. Both members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party competed to obtain the party’s endorsement.

Fateh won the DFL’s endorsement at the party’s convention in July, but it was pulled back after Frey complained of technical difficulties during the vote to determine the winner.

On Oct 13, Fateh secured the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, according to MPR News. Frey, on the other hand, has been preparing for a potential deployment of National Guard troops into the city by President Donald Trump.

New York City

One of the more well-known races given President Trump's interest, Democratic candidate Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, independent former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa are facing off.

Earlier this year, Mamdani pulled off an electoral upset by defeating Cuomo in the Democratic primary, prompting Cuomo to run as an independent after his loss.

Trump, born in NYC, has tried to influence the race by threatening to withhold federal funding from his former hometown if Mamdani wins on Election Day. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropped his campaign for reelection, but he will appear on the ballot as an independent.

Seattle

Incumbent Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell is also facing a challenge from the left in progressive organizer Katie Wilson.

The race has already seen an early electoral upset. In the mayoral non-partisan primary, where the top two candidates advance to the general election, Wilson beat Harrell 50 to 41, with both candidates advancing into the general election.

Political consultant Crystal Fincher told Axios that Wilson’s win in August was a “horrible” sign for Harrell’s reelection bid.

“It’s so rare for someone who tops 50% in the primary to lose,” Fincher said.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Which major cities are electing a new mayor? Boston, Minneapolis, NYC and more.

Reporting by Fernando Cervantes Jr., USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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