1969 Los Angeles mayoral election

1969 Los Angeles mayoral election

← 1965 April 1, 1969 (1969-04-01) and May 27, 1969 (1969-05-27) 1973 →
 
Candidate Sam Yorty Tom Bradley
First round 183,334
26.09%
293,753
41.80%
Runoff 447,030
53.26%
392,379
46.74%

 
Candidate Baxter Ward Alphonzo E. Bell Jr.
First round 116,555
16.59%
99,172
14.11%
Runoff Eliminated Eliminated

Mayor before election

Sam Yorty

Elected Mayor

Sam Yorty

The 1969 Los Angeles mayoral election took place on April 1, 1969, with a run-off election on May 27, 1969. Incumbent Sam Yorty was re-elected over councilmember Tom Bradley, a win that had a record-breaking turnout.[1] Yorty used race against Bradley to paint him as a mayor who would be open to Black Nationalism and that he was inefficient against fighting crime, both were denied by Bradley as he was a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department before his election to the council.[2][3]

Municipal elections in California, including Mayor of Los Angeles, are officially nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference edges was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Bradley hits introduction of race issue". Highland Park News. May 18, 1969.
  3. ^ Sonenshein, Raphael J. (1993). Politics in Black and White. Princeton University Press.
  4. ^ "LOS ANGELES: STRUCTURE OF A CITY GOVERNMENT" (PDF). League of Women Voters.