Care To Guess How Many Of The Deadliest Cities In The U.S. Have A Republican Mayor?

I & I Editorial Board

September 2, 2025

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“I want to present some facts to the president of the United States, and I imagine this is alarming to the president to learn these facts.” – California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In one of his endless attempts to grab a headline, California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week taunted President Donald Trump, saying that if he’s serious about fighting crime, he should be sending the National Guard to red states such as Louisiana, which has a murder rate far higher than California.

Newsom’s attempt to troll the president failed on Sunday, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took the attention-starved governor up on his offer.

“Absolutely,” she said on “Face the Nation,” when asked if the Trump administration would send National Guard troops into cities or states run by Republicans. “Every single city is evaluated for what we need to do there to make it safer.”

But even if Trump were to follow up on this, he’d likely still end up sending National Guard troops almost exclusively into Democratic strongholds.

Not for political reasons. But because the most crime-infested parts of the country are almost entirely run by Democrats.

Here are some facts about crime that might be alarming to the governor of California.

Are you listening Gavin?

• Of the 20 cities with the highest homicide rates in the country, 14 are located in blue or purple states.
• Just one of the remaining six currently has a Republican mayor – Dallas’ Eric Johnson – and he was twice elected as a Democrat, and switched to become a Republican in his second term.
• The remaining five cities, despite being in red states,  have been under Democratic control for years, if not decades.
• It’s been 12 years since Greensboro, N.C., last had a Republican mayor.
• The last time there was a Republican mayor in St. Louis, Mo., was 1949.
• Atlanta hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1879; New Orleans, hasn’t seen one since 1872.
• In Indianapolis, the homicide rate has been elevated ever since Democrats gained control of the mayorship in 2017. From 2010 through 2016, the annual number of homicides in the city averaged around 120. Since then, it’s averaged 201.

Well, you might ask, what does it matter who the mayor is? The reason it matters is that crime is local. And local law enforcement is what matters. 

“Your public safety as a resident is dramatically impacted by your district attorney, by your police department, and by whether the local politicians support and adequately fund the police and prosecutor’s offices,” noted a Heritage Foundation research paper from 2022.

It doesn’t matter where these cities are located. If Democrats run them, it’s more likely than not that residents are stuck with local prosecutors who won’t prosecute crimes, police departments that are understaffed and demoralized, criminals who, if they are caught at all, get released on cashless bail, and political machines that keep these Democrats in power, decade after miserable decade.

Dallas’ Mayor Johnson said it best when he switched to the GOP. “The future of America’s great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism. Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles (as opposed to the inconsistent, poll-driven commitment of many Democrats) that has long been a defining characteristic of the GOP.”

These are the facts, Gavin. And they are, indeed, alarming. They are an alarming indictment of those who, for far too long, have maintained an iron grip on our once great cities.

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board