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2007 Indianapolis mayoral election
Turnout	26.32% 0.49pp
	Voting by party by neighborhood. The darkest blue shade represents more than 60% of votes were for Peterson, the lighter blue shade represents more than 50% for Peterson. The darkest red shade represents more than 60% of votes were for Ballard, the lighter red shade represents more than 50% for Ballard.
Mayor before election; Bart Peterson; Democratic	Elected mayor ; Greg Ballard; Republican

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, as well as several other local officials. Incumbent Democrat Bart Peterson was seeking a third term. Republicans nominated a Marine veteran, Greg Ballard, to run against Peterson. In what was called "the biggest upset in Indiana political history", Ballard defeated Peterson 50% to 47%.^[2]

The Indianapolis City-County elections took place alongside the mayoral election.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[4]

Issues

The two major issues in the mayoral campaign were crime and taxes.^[6] Residents felt property taxes were most important due to the spike in the tax. Rising crime was another major issue in the election.^[7]

Election results

Indianapolis mayoral election, 2007^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Greg Ballard	83,238	50.4
	Democratic	Bart Peterson (incumbent)	77,926	47.2
	Libertarian	Fred Peterson	3,787	2.3
	No party	Write-Ins	51	0.1
Turnout			165,002	26.2
Majority			5,312	3.2
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

References

^ "indy.gov". www.indy.gov. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
^ "Ballard grabs upset win in mayoral race". The Indianapolis Star. November 7, 2007. Archived from the original on February 23, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "2007 General Election Results". Marion County Clerk's Office. November 7, 2007. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Ballard's 'Biggest Upset' Ends Peterson Era". WRTV. November 7, 2007. Archived from the original on June 17, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
^ "Peterson's fundraising far outweighs competition". WTHR. October 19, 2007. Archived from the original on November 17, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
^ "Candidates for mayor discuss election issues". WTHR. November 5, 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
^ "Indianapolis Mayor Begins Ad Campaign". WISH-TV. May 2, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}