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| Turnout | 33.6%[1] | ||||||||||||||||
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TheIndianapolis mayoral election of 1979 took place on November 6, 1979, and saw the reelection of Republican William H. Hudnut III.
Hudnut defeated Democratic former city-county councilmanPaul Cantwell in what was reported to have been the greatest margin of defeat for a Democratic candidate in an Indianapolis mayoral election in 150 years.[2] Cantwell had resigned his seat on theIndianapolis City-County Council in order to focus on his campaign.[2]
Ahead of the election season, Hudnut had demonstrated a strong advantage in polls.[3] Top prospective Democratic candidates declined to run.[3] Even before party primaries, many Democratic Party officials believed that Hadnut was not able to be unseated in the 1979 election.[4]
Laws prevented Cantwell from seeking re-election in the coinciding election for theIndianapolis City-County Council while running for mayor.[5] He opted to resign early from the city council in order to focus on his campaign.[2] In the coinciding council election, his former seat was won by Republican nominee Stanley P. Strader,[5] with Republicans winning a 22–7 council majority in the election.[6]
Cantwell struggled to raise funds, ultimately raising only $38,000.[3] Hudnut, meanwhile, spent $278,000 during his campaign.[3] This allowed Hadnut to outspend Cantwell by a 10 to 1 margin.[4] Cantwell also lacked organizational support from the Democratic Party,[4] which was poorly-organized in the city.[7]He also found that Democratic donors were much more keen on contributing to Indiana Democratic campaigns for the upcoming1980 elections than contributing to his campaign; with Democratic donors reserving their contributions instead for campaigns such asJimmy Carter'spresidential re-election campaign andTed Kennedy'sprimary election campaign against Carter;Birch Bayh's likelySenate re-election campaign; John A. Hillenbrand II andWayne Townsend'sgubernatorial primary campaigns.[6] Consequently, Cantwell's campaign was an independent operation dependent upon self-funding andgrassroots contributions.[7]
Hadnut enjoyed much strongername recognition than Cantwell.[4] Hadnut received diverse support for his re-election, not only with near-unanimous backing from local Republicans, but also receiving strong support within the localBlack community (as well as from local Black leaders) and support fromliberal groups andorganized labor. The Central Indiana Building Trades Council (a labor organization) endorsed his candidacy.[6]
At the time of the election, Cantwell's son Danny Cantwell was awaiting trial for murder. He would beacquitted in November 1980. Paul Cantwell argued that the charges were political, and were retribution for his investigations of policecorruption.[2]
Cantwell's campaign received some praise for speaking to genuine flaws of Hadnut's mayoral administration,[4] such as issues in the Solid Waste Division of the Department of Public Works. Cantwell also alleged that Hadnut's mayoralty had seen an "eroding tax base", a troubling growth of the localbureaucracy and an overall lack of inefficiency in the local government.[8] However, without an advertising budget behind Cantwell's message these concerns went unheard by many voters.[4]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | William H. Hudnut III (incumbent) | 124,515 | 73.9 | |
| Democratic | Paul Cantwell | 43,955 | 26.1 | |
| Turnout | 168,470 | |||
| Majority | 80,560 | |||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Preceded by 1975 | Indianapolis mayoral election 1979 | Succeeded by 1983 |
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