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.
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 DemocratBart Peterson was seeking a third term. Republicans nominated former MarineGreg Ballard to run against Peterson. In what was called "the biggest upset in Indiana political history", Ballard defeated Peterson 51% to 47%.[1]
Peterson was vastly considered a lock to win the election by political experts.[3] 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.[4] 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.[3]
The two major issues in the mayoral campaign were crime and taxes.[5] Residents felt property taxes were most important due to the spike in the tax. Rising crime was another major issue in the election.[6]
