The Indianapolis mayoral election of 2007 took place on November 6, 2007. Voters elected the Mayor of Indianapolis, members of the Indianapolis City-County Council

Indianapolis City-County Council

The Indianapolis City–County Council is the city legislature of Indianapolis, Indiana and Marion County, known as Unigov. It was formally established in 1970 upon the merger of the city government with the county government. Both the Council and Mayor's office are located within the Indianapolis...

, as well as several other local officials. Incumbent Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Bart Peterson

Bart Peterson

Barton "Bart" R. Peterson is the former mayor of the U.S city of Indianapolis, Indiana. A Democrat first elected in 1999, he was defeated in 2007 in a bid for a third term in what was widely viewed as a huge upset.A lifelong Indianapolis resident, Peterson graduated from North Central High School...

 was seeking a third term. Republicans

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 nominated former Marine

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 Greg Ballard

Greg Ballard

Gregory Ballard is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.Ballard attended the University of Oregon where he played at the collegiate level at the forward position...

 to run against Peterson. In what was called, "the biggest upset in Indiana political history", Ballard defeated Peterson 51% to 47%.

The Indianapolis City-County elections

Indianapolis City-County Council elections, 2007

The 2007 Indianapolis City–County Council elections took place on November 6, 2007. All 29 seats were up for re-election, 25 districts and 4 at-large seats, on the Indianapolis City–County Council. Seven of the seats were unopposed, 4 held by Democrats and 3 held by Republicans. Prior to the...

 took place alongside the mayoral election.

Candidates

• Democrat Bart Peterson, incumbent Mayor, ran for a third term.
• Republican Greg Ballard
• Libertarian Fred Peterson

Campaign

Peterson was vastly considered a lock to win the election by political experts. The incumbent Peterson had nearly 30 times as much campaign money as the challenger. Peterson, who started with considerable fundraising advantages, raised nearly $1.5 million since April and had $1.5 million left in late October. In contrast, Ballard raised nearly $225,000 since April and had just over $51,000 left in his campaign fund in late October. Peterson spent nearly $1.5 million on TV and radio ads and $113,000 on polling and research. Two weeks before election day, Ballard had still not put up any TV ads.

Issues

The two major issues in the mayoral campaign were crime and taxes. Residents felt property taxes were most important due to the spike in the tax. Rising crime was another major issue in the election.

Election results