2025 Harrisburg mayoral election

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2025 Harrisburg mayoral election
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Candidate Wanda Williams Dan Miller
Party Democratic Republican[a]
Incumbent Mayor

Wanda Williams
Democratic



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Government

The 2025 mayoral election in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania will be held on November 4, 2025. One-term incumbent mayor Wanda Williams is eligible for re-election. Primary elections were held on May 20, 2025.[2]

Background

[edit]

In October 2024, Harrisburg mayor Wanda Williams announced she would seek re-election.[3] Four additional candidates announced their candidacy for mayor in the Democratic primary, with two serious challengers being City Councilman Lamont Jones[4] and City Treasurer Dan Miller.[5] Jones and Miller declared their candidacies in December 2024 and January 2025, respectively. Williams narrowly won the Democratic primary by 80 votes over Miller.[6][7] While the Democratic primary was taking place, Miller won the Republican nomination after receiving enough write-in votes.[8] Two months after the primaries, in July, Miller accepted the Republican nomination, though he stopped short of committing to a full general election campaign.[9] On August 11, the last day to declare for the general election, Miller announced he would mount a general election bid for mayor as the Republican nominee. Miller likened the race to "a runoff between the top two candidates" from the Democratic primary.[10]

Democratic primary

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Five candidates, including incumbent Mayor Wanda Williams, declared their candidacy for the Democratic nomination for mayor.[11] The campaign for the Democratic nomination was contentious, reflecting the city's current political climate. Early in the campaign, Williams clashed with the city council, her opponent Councilman Lamont Jones, and City Treasurer Dan Miller. Among her criticisms, Williams claimed the city council was a "hindrance to progress" after vetoing several budget items.[12][13] Shortly thereafter, Williams targeted Jones, who had announced his primary challenge before her remarks about the city council. In her attack, Williams questioned Jones' leadership ability, claiming he was not "community-related," while touting her own community involvement of "over 40 years."[14] Prior to his declaration of candidacy, Treasurer Miller, held a press conference discussing unpaid trash bills, outlined his ideas for collecting the outstanding dues. Williams interrupted Miller's press conference to express her opposition to his plan, stating that the city was seeking a "collections attorney."[15]

In March, Williams held a last-minute press conference to defend herself against an article published by The Patriot-News concerning a federal lawsuit filed against the city, which alleges nepotism within the city government.[16][17]

Three debates were held, attended by all five candidates. Each debate was marked by tension and hostility between Williams and her two main opponents, Jones and Miller.[18][19]

On Election Day, an altercation occurred between an individual associated with Jones against Williams at a polling location, resulting in an apology from Jones and disciplinary action for the aggressor. The individual in question had previously arranged interviews on behalf of Jones; however, Jones denied that he was his campaign manager, despite Williams' claim to the contrary.[20]

Ultimately, in a closely contested election, Williams secured the Democratic nomination for re-election.[7] The hostile environment of the primary was poorly received by voters, many of whom described the race as "horrible," leading to a record-low turnout. Voter turnout dropped by over 20% compared to the previous mayoral Democratic primary.[21]

The primary election results were divided by the Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Intermodal Yard, with Williams losing support west of the yard while gaining support to the east. She lost the most support in Midtown, as well as in Downtown, South Harrisburg, and Uptown. The Allison Hill neighborhood was split along a north-south divide, with the northern portion swinging toward Williams and the southern portion swinging away from her. East Harrisburg saw a uniform swing towards Williams.[22]

Nominee

[edit]

Defeated in primary

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  • Lewis Butts Jr., perennial candidate[11]
  • Tone Cook Jr., gun violence activist known as "Street Mayor"[24]
  • Lamont Jones, City Councilman[4]
  • Dan Miller, City Treasurer, former controller and councilman, and Democratic candidate and Republican nominee for mayor in 2013[5]

Endorsements

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Dan Miller
Organizations

Debates

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2025 Harrisburg Mayoral Democratic primary debates
No. Date Host Moderator Link Democratic Democratic Democratic Democratic Democratic
Key:
 P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
Butts Jr. Cook Jr. Jones Miller Williams
1 April 22, 2025 WHTM-TV Dennis Owens [26] P P P P P
2 May 7, 2025 WHP-TV Joel D. Smith [27] P P P P P
3 May 13, 2025 WGAL-TV
Harrisburg University 		Tasmin Mahfuz
Tom Lehman 		[28] P P P P P

Results

[edit]
2025 Harrisburg Mayoral Democratic Primary[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Wanda Williams (incumbent) 1,729 35.34
Democratic Dan Miller 1,649 33.70
Democratic Lamont Jones 1,096 22.40
Democratic Tone Cook Jr. 315 6.44
Democratic Lewis L Butts Jr. 90 1.84
Write-in 14 0.29
Total votes 4,893 100.0

Republican primary

[edit]

No Republicans filed to be on the ballot for the primary. However, Democratic candidate and City Treasurer Dan Miller sent out mailers to Republicans asking them to write him in. The Pennsylvania Department of State has said that it takes at least 100 votes for a write-in campaign to be successful.[29] Per the Dauphin County Registration and Elections, Miller won the parties nomination, receiving 112 write-in votes.[8] On July 16th, the Dauphin County elections department stated Miller had accepted the Republican nomination.[9] Miller has confirmed that, despite being the Republican nominee, he is "not a Republican".[30]

Nominee

[edit]
  • Dan Miller, City Treasurer, former controller and councilman, Democratic candidate and Republican nominee for mayor in 2013, and Democratic candidate this election[9]

Results

[edit]
2025 Harrisburg Mayoral Republican Primary[6][8]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Dan Miller (write-in) 112 44.3
Republican Other write-in 90 35.6
Republican Wanda Williams (incumbent) (write-in) 51 20.2
Total votes 253 100

Notes

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  1. ^ Miller is a registered Democrat.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gittens, Maddie (July 28, 2025). "County data reports Dan Miller's acceptance of Republican nomination for Harrisburg mayor". TheBurg. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
  2. ^ "Upcoming Elections". PA.Gov.
  3. ^ "Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams to run for re-election". ABC27. 2024-10-17. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  4. ^ a b CBS 21 News (December 19, 2024). "City Councilman Lamont Jones announces bid for Harrisburg mayor". Local21News.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b Stockburger, George (January 29, 2025). "Harrisburg City Treasurer Dan Miller announces campaign for Mayor". ABC27.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "2025 Municipal Primary Election Results". DauphinInc.org. May 20, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "Williams wins Democratic primary for Harrisburg mayor". WGAL-TV. May 21, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c Sherry, Hayden (May 28, 2025). "Democrat Dan Miller wins Republican nomination for Harrisburg Mayor; Will he run?". ABC27.com. Retrieved June 1, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Lehman, Tom (July 16, 2025). "Miller accepts Republican nomination for Harrisburg mayor". WGAL.com.
  10. ^ Schweigert, Keith (August 11, 2025). "Harrisburg City Treasurer Dan Miller announces he's running for mayor as a Republican". WPMT.
  11. ^ a b Binda, Lawrance (March 11, 2025). "Large field of candidates to run for Harrisburg mayor, City Council, as nominating deadline passes". TheBurgNews.com. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
  12. ^ Miller, Grace (December 31, 2024). "Harrisburg mayor announces vetoes to 2025 budget". WHP-TV<. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  13. ^ Burns, Sarah (December 31, 2024). "Harrisburg mayor calls city council a 'hinderance to progress' in new statement". WHP-TV. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  14. ^ Doran, Brady (January 3, 2025). "Harrisburg mayoral candidates open attacks ahead of May primary". WHTM-TV. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  15. ^ Lehman, Tom (January 14, 2025). "Harrisburg treasurer, mayor spar over how to collect unpaid trash bills". WGAL-TV. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  16. ^ Thompson, Charles (March 3, 2025). "Ex-Harrisburg public works director's lawsuit raises questions about the mayor". The Patriot-News. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  17. ^ Stockburger, George (March 7, 2025). "Harrisburg Mayor reacts to campaign allegation of "nepotism" while using city assets". Yahoo. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  18. ^ Luciew, John (April 23, 2025). "Harrisburg mayor candidates clash in combative debate: 6 sharpest exchanges". The Patriot-News. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  19. ^ "Tensions flare in final Harrisburg mayoral debate as primary election approaches". WPMT-TV. May 13, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  20. ^ Yoder-Furst, Megan (May 20, 2025). "Harrisburg mayoral candidates address tense election-day exchange between Lamont Jones' colleague and Wanda William". WPMT-TV. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  21. ^ Corrigan, James (May 21, 2025). "'The race was horrible' Harrisburg residents react to mayoral campaign, record low turnout". WPMT. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  22. ^ Northup, Alton (August 13, 2025). "Maps show where Wanda Williams lost support in Harrisburg mayor race as Dan Miller continues campaign". ABC 27 News. Retrieved August 15, 2025.
  23. ^ Stockburger, George (October 17, 2024). "Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams to run for re-election". ABC27.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  24. ^ Lindenmuth, Kaylee (February 9, 2025). "Tone Cook announces run for Harrisburg mayor". ABC27.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  25. ^ "LGBTQ+ Victory Fund Endorses 34 More Out Candidates for 2025 and 2026 Elections". February 27, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
  26. ^ "Harrisburg Mayoral Debate". ABC27.com. April 22, 2025.
  27. ^ "2025 Harrisburg Mayoral Debate". YouTube. May 7, 2025.
  28. ^ "LIVE: WGAL hosts Harrisburg Mayoral Debate". YouTube. May 13, 2025.
  29. ^ Jeski, Tyler (2025-05-21). "Harrisburg mayoral candidate Dan Miller could run as Republican in November race". WHP. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
  30. ^ Kaplan, Seth (June 18, 2025). "Will Dan Miller run for Harrisburg mayor on Republican ticket against Wanda Williams? Here's the latest". ABC27.com. Retrieved June 19, 2025.
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Official campaign websites