One state tried to remove local governments' power to dictate things like paint colors.
A potential ballot measure would consolidate services between almost 100 municipalities. It's opposed by almost every local leader it would affect.
The Republican governor of Indiana has quietly become one of the most effective and popular state leaders in the country.
Well-run governments must have clear lines of leadership. Just ask Pueblo, Colo.
Its problems didn't start with Trump, but he ironically may be helping to turn some of them around.
Councilmembers in Chicago and Philadelphia, which give them unusual amounts of authority, are facing criminal charges.
If states changed where and how we select candidates, turnout would soar and we'd learn a lot more about what voters really think.
Democrats are pushing legislation to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns. The same rules don't apply for most statewide elections -- but that could change.
About one in five Americans now lack regular access to local media coverage. Studies show this is bad for politics, municipal debt -- and even the environment.
Ross Garber is the man to call when state leaders are in political peril.
Local governments are using internet surveys to better gauge residents’ needs.
A generation ago, most Democrats and Republicans backed capital punishment. But in New Hampshire, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle just voted to abolish it, reflecting a nationwide trend.
The president wants to release detained immigrants in cities where local leaders oppose his immigration policies.
Why are they breaking norms and eyeing city hall instead of Capitol Hill?
Elite actors are threatening to boycott Georgia over a heartbeat abortion bill, endangering the state's a-list status among major TV and movie productions.
From Kansas City, Mo., to Tampa, Fla., a record number of large cities could elect an openly gay woman as mayor this year.
Republican Jim Brainard of Carmel, Ind., has become a national voice on environmental issues.
No black woman or openly gay individual has led a city as large as Chicago. She will have to confront chronic budget shortfalls, population loss and a high murder rate.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Pundits keep predicting the religious group's decline as a political force. But they may actually be gaining influence.
With the 2020 elections in sight, both parties are appealing to their bases, leaving voters in the middle uncertain which way to turn.
Republicans hold a small fraction of seats in two Democratic states, but they enjoy outsized power.
This marks the third time Gwinnett County has rejected a plan to expand the city's public transit. But advocates hope the defeat is only temporary.
Democrats once fought to keep her from becoming Obama's education secretary. Now she's set to lead California's State Board of Education, where she could influence the national party's education stances.
After making racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic comments, elected officials often stay in office, either by apologizing or attacking their opponents. But public servants may have a harder time keeping their jobs.
A Miami suburb might be the first in the nation to let residents participate in -- not just watch -- public meetings from anywhere they have an internet connection.
Some states are still purging voter rolls and requiring IDs. But most are now looking to expand access to the ballot box.
Sylvester Turner’s focus on consensus-building has earned him praise -- and criticism.
Democrats rarely win elections in the South. If anyone can do it, it's Jim Hood.
In a decision that stunned both parties, Judge G. Bryan Collins ruled last Friday that the state's lawmakers don't have the power to pass constitutional amendments. His reasoning traces back to racial gerrymandering.