In the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency of the United States, what might be changed forever in American life? As in every election, big issues were at stake–immigration policy, education policy, climate policy, foreign policy, economic policy, reproductive rights–all spring immediately to mind as political arenas that are bound to change.
These overarching concerns make sense. It’s only natural to look up to the highest office, projecting totality, and place all hopes and fears there. Especially in today’s increasingly-polarized and highly fractious political environment, where political pundits have their hands firmly and continuously pressed on all of the panic buttons.
In reality, that heightened sensation of an all-encompassing importance–manufactured by a need for straightforward competition in individuals and the media–can actually be a fragile one. The presidential election is important, but it is only one election in a sea of many.
An article written in a world where the current unusual trifecta in American politics–the perfect convergence (or perfect storm) of one party dominating the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government–did not shape out, would be an article focused on the importance of local government in a federal system that is often in deadlock.
However, the American federal government is entering a rare period when, due to Republican majorities in the three branches, it may actually be able to get things done. Of course, there are still roadblocks–internal Republican infighting, the filibuster–that will somewhat hinder federal action, but a Republican policy agenda is still sure to make waves.
A largely unrestrained federal government is scary. With life-changing issues hanging in the balance, it’s easy to look up, consider the at least two years before the makeup of the American legislature can shift, and give up hope. Unfortunately, all that looking up detracts from change that can still be made downstream, through state and local politics.
Local elections are not as glamorous as federal ones. They’re harder for the media to gamify, they don’t feel as big or as personal, the stakes feel lower, the same buzz isn’t there–yet, especially in a world with total Republican control at the federal level, local politics are hugely important.
State and local politics have different goals than federal politics–while communities may be represented by a member of the House of Representatives at a “local” level, that representative still only represents that community’s interests on the federal scale. State and local politics involve the same kind of community representation, but act further down the food chain at state, city, town, or community levels rather than at the top. As such, state and local politics are more specialized and focused on their own communities–policy will impact a smaller group of people, and will often have a much more noticeable direct effect on people’s lives as compared to federal policy that blankets the nation.
In the wake of Trump’s re-election, the importance of state and local politics is already apparent. In New York State, Proposition One appeared on the ballot, which strengthened anti-discrimination protections and protected abortion. Because it passed, even should the federal government pass legislation peeling back anti-discrimination protections at a national level, New Yorkers will still be secure.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has committed to “Trump-proofing” his state before the President-Elect enters office, which has involved calling a special session of the California state legislature to make sure that state agencies had the funding they need. These efforts are a continuation of statewide strides California has made since Trump left office to protect abortion rights and same-sex marriage while pushing for stricter gun laws.
Unfortunately, despite the power that state and local governments have to make change in their communities, elections for state and local office receive much less attention than they should.
In New York City, voter turnout for the 2021 mayoral election was just below 20% of eligible voters–and while at surface level, that low number may be explained away by the uncompetitive nature of a heavily Democratic New York City, turnout was similarly low at around 25% of registered party voters for the very competitive Democratic primary.
That staggeringly low turnout shows a concerning amount of disengagement and apathy for the races that really count. Take the difference between New York City’s current mayor, Eric Adams, and a candidate like Maya Wiley. Backed by NYC’s largest labor union as well and endorsed by prominent progressives Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, Wiley promised to shift one billion dollars from the NYPD, focus on shifting the homelessness narrative from a “right to shelter” to a “right to housing” while removing NYPD participation in homeless response and to raise the minimum wage while indexing it to inflation.
These policy goals were much more progressive than what the city was promised by and has received from Eric Adams during his tenure. Maya Wiley is just one example–a race that only represents the wishes of 25% of eligible voters is far from truly representative, despite the fact that a Maya Wiley New York City, an Andrew Yang New York City, or even (however far-fetched it may seem) a Republican Curtis Sliwa New York City would look incredibly different than an Eric Adams New York City.
The scope of local elections spans far beyond mayors of America’s biggest cities–and if those races fail to capture even middling voter turnout, the attention placed on races for other local offices is truly minuscule.
School boards shape local school policy, curriculum, budgets, and handle major decisions around the school system. Recently, the power of school boards has manifested in removing books that cover topics deemed unsavory by board members, as well as in the proliferation of conservative political groups such as Moms for Liberty that challenge “wokeism” in the American education system.
Local elections elect prosecutors who have the power to shape the criminal legal system with little oversight. Their decisions on bail, pretrial detention, and severity of sentences can turn the system towards or against mass incarceration, with disproportionate consequences for different communities.
City Councils are the legislative bodies for their respective cities, and essentially serve the same role as the U.S. Congress at a dramatically smaller and more directly important scale. City Councils handle city budgets, criminal and civil laws, regulations, public health, taxes, and land use.
Because of their smaller scale and more focused nature, local officials have more direct influence on the day-to-day lives of those who live in their municipalities than federal officials do. Their influence on local communities exists at a level that completely eclipses the inattention they receive.
State and local government expenditures amount to about 2.9 trillion dollars annually–while this is less than the federal government’s 4.3 trillion dollars, around two thirds of federal expenditures are transfers to either individuals or local or state governments. State and local governments therefore have a decision-making role in American economy and policymaking that greatly outsizes how much the American public actually participates in electing their representative local officials.
The lack of participation in hugely important local elections is not a new issue, and has systemic drivers. According to the National Civic League in 2020, local election turnout reached historic lows and was less representative of community demographics than ever, with only 15 to 27 percent of eligible voters voting across the U.S.–a pattern which held true despite high participation in the Presidential election. High-income voters have a 30-50 percent higher turnout than low-income voters, voters 65 or older turnout at seven times the rate of 18-24-year-old voters, and white voters vote 20% more than non-white voters. These disparities in turnout in turn produce disparities in local government representation. As data about 2024 elections pours in, time will tell if and how turnout demographics have shifted–but presumably, nothing drastic has changed.
Issues with low turnout in local elections are similar to issues with low voter turnout generally, but greatly exacerbated. Lack of awareness on where and how to vote, lack of voter ID or necessary assistance, conflicts with getting to the polls, as well as good old-fashioned cynicism all act as barriers to higher voter turnout. Looking specifically at local elections, the largest barriers include lack of awareness of local candidates and the importance of local elected officials in everyday life, as well as the fact that most local elections occur in off-cycle years where there is no federal or state election to motivate turnout.
While there is no easy fix, there are many avenues to improving turnout and interest in local elections. In New York City, the New York City Civic Engagement Commission began a two million dollar voter education campaign in 2023 that aims to engage New Yorkers across community, language, and ethnic boundaries, with the hope of improving awareness and participation in NYC elections. More broadly, solutions may include changing local election timing to align more with major election cycles, incentivizing participation through collaborations with local businesses, offering local election information as a supplement to other public services like housing and healthcare, and creating other targeted initiatives to raise awareness about the impact of local officials and their policies.
In the coming years of Republican federal dominance, state and local politics will be more central to combatting conservative policy than ever, especially in blue states. Given the new American political reality, the underappreciation of local politics is truly dire. Aside from creating local governments that fail to represent the interests of the people, it’s indicative of larger issues of media gamification of competition and an emphasis on showmanship in the American political sphere. Distracted from the races that hit closest to home, the American public is trapped in a cycle of longing for change through the federal government without realizing how much can be done on the local level. Through this misdirected attention, Americans lose out on their own futures–only a drastic paradigm shift will rectify this great American tragedy of ignorance.