The city of Toledo, Ohio, is holding general elections for six city council seats, two municipal judgeships, and the clerk of the municipal court on November 5, 2019. Primaries for the city council’s districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are being held September 10, 2019.
The remaining offices, including District 6, had two or fewer candidates file to run. As a result, their primaries were canceled and those candidates advanced automatically to the November general election.
Districts 3 and 5 are the only open seats on the primary and general election ballots. All seven other races feature incumbents; four city council members face competition in their re-election bids while the two municipal judges and one clerk of court are running unopposed. Together, the nine seats drew an average of 2.6 candidates per seat.
The 2019 city council election has the highest average number of candidates per seat over the past three regular election cycles. This year, 20 candidates filed for the six city council seats, an average of 3.3 candidates per seat. The last time the by-district city council seats were up for election was in 2015. Seventeen candidates filed for seven city council seats (one at-large seat was up for special election), for an average of 2.4 candidates per seat. Toledo also held elections for the six at-large city council seats in 2017. That year, 13 candidates filed for six seats—an average of 2.2 candidates per seat.
Toledo is the fourth-largest city in Ohio and the 66th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
Additional reading:
https://ballotpedia.org/Toledo,_Ohio
https://ballotpedia.org/Toledo,_Ohio_municipal_elections,_2015
https://ballotpedia.org/Municipal_elections_in_Toledo,_Ohio_(2017)
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