The

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

mayoral election of 1975 took place on November 4, 1975 and saw the election of Republican William H. Hudnut III. Hudnut ultimately served 16 years as mayor, becoming the city's longest-serving mayor.

Nominations

Democratic primary

Businessman Robert V. Welch defeated six other candidates in the Democratic primary. With a strong

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

campaign, Welch won in an upset over frontrunner William Schreiber, the Marion County chairman.

Republican primary

Former congressman William H. Hudnut III won a decisive victory over two other candidates in the Republican primary.

General election

Jobs and crime management were top issues in the election. Hudnut proposed improving the convention and tourism budget, better optimizing use of Economic Development Commission, and floated the possibility of using tax-free bonds as a means to enlarge the city's employment base. However, he named crime to be his top issue, and called for strong leadership, better police training, and more resident participation in crime fighting. To address the high rate of unemployment among citizens between the ages of 18 and 30, Welch pledged to assemble all of the leaders of the community and "put the full power of the mayor's office" behind their efforts to address this. Welch promised he would hire a new police chief if elected, and also argued for more police officers to be placed on the street. The election saw the city's lowest voter turnout in 13 years. Hudnut's victory was credited to the impact of the creation of

Unigov Unigov is the colloquial name adopted by the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, to describe its consolidated city–county government. By an act of the Indiana General Assembly, Indianapolis consolidated with the government of Marion County in 197 ...

. The creation of Unigov had added predominantly Republican suburban areas of the county to the city of Indianapolis. Hudnut had won the "new city" (areas added to Indianapolis in the creation of Unigov) by 74,680 to 42,110, while Welch won the "old city" by 67,646 to 49,410. Hudnut's victory was also credited to the migration of people leaving the Indianapolis area, moving into bordering counties. Three minor-party candidates were also running.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indianapolis Mayoral Election, 1975

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1975 United States mayoral elections 1975 Indiana elections