'War on cities' proves GOP leaders are hostile to the 'philosophy of small government': mayors

Democratic mayors of blue cities in red states are increasingly finding themselves hamstrung as Republican-controlled legislatures pass a wave of "preemption" laws aimed at constraining what local ordinances they can pass.

The Washington Post recently interviewed numerous mayors of Democratic cities in Republican states, many of whom are people of color elected by a majority-minority constituency. After Nashville, Tennessee's city council voted against hosting the 2024 Republican National Convention, the GOP-controlled Tennessee legislature punished the city by defunding the city's convention center, cutting the city council in half, and attempting to take over control of the city's airport (the proposed airport takeover was defeated in court).

"We spend an incredible amount of energy embracing constraint under a Republican supermajority’s preemption," Nashville mayor Freddie O'Connell — whose position is nonpartisan but who affiliates with Democrats — told the Post. "It contributes to an atmosphere of chaos in governance."

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Houston, Texas, which has a population in excess of two million residents, is the largest Democratic-run city in a red state. The Texas legislature has similarly sought to preempt Houston's local government from overseeing its own school district, and even passed a law preventing the city from mandating regular water breaks for workers who labor outdoors in Houston's notoriously hot subtropical climate.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said the law was necessary to free businesses from "burdensome" government regulations, but Mayor Sylvester Turner said the legislation "hurts the state and its economy, discourages new transplants from other states, and thwarts the will of Texas voters."

"This self-defeating war on cities needs to end," Turner said in a public statement.

Democratic mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland, Ohio found himself similarly unable to enact local ordinances relating to tobacco and firearms regulation due to preemption laws passed by the Republican-dominated Ohio legislature. He said the doctrine of preemption goes "squarely against the Republican philosophy of small government and more freedom."

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"This is about common-sense democracy," Bibb said.

Bibb is calling for the Biden administration to end-run state legislatures when allocating federal money to municipalities, saying President Joe Biden should "send that money directly to the mayors... to make sure as mayors we can control our destiny and preserve home rule in our cities."