The upcoming Bloomington mayoral race between incumbent Mboka Mwilambwe and former state Rep. Dan Brady may hinge more on style and vision than on big differences on the issues.
Both Mwilambwe and Brady favor sustainable economic development, supporting the business community and the downtown streetscape plan, and creating a TIF district for the downtown area. Both said experience makes them well-qualified for the office.
Brady cited his two-plus decades in Springfield as an asset in helping the city find funding for projects and smoothing bureaucratic hurdles — an expertise necessitated by his status as a member of the minority Republican party in the Illinois House.
“Those areas of working with infrastructure grants, trying to find funding for the City of Bloomington via the state legislature, are all assets that I bring to the table with my knowledge of this community,” said Brady.
Mwilambwe said his four years as mayor matter because he has institutional expertise.
"I've been there, and I know how things work and how to work with the staff. I'm more intimately familiar with some of the issues and the things that we are trying to push forward," he said.
There are nuances of difference — a matter of emphasis on public safety, for instance — but the two are similar on the basics.
So, the race may come down to intangibles and how Brady and Mwilambwe view the role of mayor.
"I think that's absolutely correct," said political scientist and former Bloomington mayor Tari Renner.
The vision of the role of mayor was an issue in all three of Renner’s campaigns for the job.
"My position was that Bloomington is a changing, dynamic community and needs an activist mayor, somebody who is concerned about problems and gets up every morning figuring out what they can do to solve problems for the city. Other people have different views," said Renner.
That difference could be significant in the coming race. Brady already has positioned himself as that activist mayor, and defined himself in contrast to Mwilambwe, saying he would be more "hands on."
"Maybe more highly visible in certain areas, maybe more involved with the city manager from the position of decisions and what's presented to the city council," said Brady.
For his part, Mwilambwe is not shying away from a more restrained definition of the role. Mwilambwe said he prefers a light touch in council vote wrangling on important issues because dissent can be good.
"I do welcome that because when you have someone who has a disagreement, I think sometimes it can bring something important to the table," he said, adding he tries to give other council members a "little bit of distance so they can make up their own minds."
"Sometimes, the sort of wrangling and the heavy touch sometimes could backfire in the long run," he said.
Votes and vetoes
The mayor in Bloomington does not vote at city council meetings unless there is a tie. That could lull people into believing the job consists mainly of being a cheerleader for the city and running meetings.
One way a mayor can shape the public agenda is by saying no to certain things and being willing to use the levers of power to do it. Renner said the mayor of Bloomington not only has a veto, they have an item veto, and a line-item veto.
"Those are things that you can use strategically, getting people to do things they might not do in the absence of your effort for the broader good. Or you can leave those powers on the table," said Renner.
The veto threat can be used in council conversations behind the scenes, he said, or even with staff before a budget goes to the council.
"That, I think, is important because a mayor is an elected official. My vision of any kind of democracy or any concept of democracy does not say ‘defer to unelected bureaucrats; they understand what the public wants,’" said Renner.
Brady is well-aware of the tool.
"And actually looking at those areas where something needs to be vetoed out of a budget, if some other type of projects," said Brady.
Mwilambwe has not used his veto power, and said he has never threatened to use it.
A veto requires a super-majority vote of the council, or six votes, to override. A mayor must have support to make it stick. The current council has had a fair number of 5-4 votes, displaying a general philosophical split on some issues. Depending on the issue, that could make vetoes hard to undo.
If a mayor has to use a veto or make a public statement of an intention to veto, Renner said they are admitting to bargaining failure. He said it should be a last option. Frequent use also can cost political capital even with allies.
Both Mwilambwe and Brady said they embrace the part of the job that involves discussion to build consensus on the council.
The two candidates may differ on the use of the bully pulpit — a lever of power Renner said is unique to mayors of mid-sized cities.
"I could have a hangnail and get full court press coverage under the right circumstances. You couldn't do that if you weren't a metro city," said Renner.
Mwilambwe is accessible to the media, but has not sought it out to the same degree Renner did during his time in office. From Brady's long experience in office, he knows about the megaphone that media access can provide.
Interest groups
Because Mwilambwe and Brady have similar views on some issues, it will be important to see which way significant interest groups break. Renner said the McLean County Chamber of Commerce is typically a power in the City of Bloomington.
It'll be interesting to see if the organization stays out of the race or weighs in. Both Brady and Mwilambwe have had good relationships with the chamber, said Renner, adding it's the same for labor.
One sometimes overlooked group is the Mid-Illinois Realtors Association that Renner said has a political action committee. Realtors supported Renner in one election; they supported Mwilambwe two years ago.
"If they decide to get in again and compete at that level, that's a lot of money. Four waves of direct mail and robo-calls. That's a nice chunk of a communication budget if you are running for mayor of Bloomington," said Renner.
The candidates already are courting Realtors. In his State of the City speech earlier this week, Mwilambwe gave space to the housing crisis when he noted a recent council retreat took up the issue.
"And you can expect a kickoff conversation at a future committee of the whole [meeting] to really engage the whole community on what it would take for us to resolve the current housing crisis," said Mwilambwe.
During a WGLT interview before the mayor's speech, Brady also appeared to make an overture to Realtors in an example of how to address the issue of affordable housing.
"You have to have those people who know housing and the markets. Those people are real estate professionals and people I would like to see us have a discussion with and brought to the table more in an advisory capacity," he said.
The Democratic and Republican political parties also can play a role in the race, though they historically don't overtly support candidates in nonpartisan municipal contests.
The City of Bloomington vote has increasingly turned Democratic in general elections. Brady is a Republican. Despite that, Renner said Brady appears to have an enduring popularity in the city based on how he did vs. other statewide races in his 2022 run for secretary of state.
“They all pretty much went Democratic by the statewide margin in Illinois, except for Dan Brady's race. Dan Brady got 56%, which was the highest of any Republican by far in the city," said Renner.
What likely won't matter much is name recognition.
Both Mwilambwe and Brady are well-known, longtime office holders. Even if Brady has a slight advantage in recognition because of a higher office and longer public service, Renner said at a mere 22% likely voter turnout, everyone going to the polls already knows the candidates and who they will support.
Renner said a new voting bloc did show up significantly in the last cycle — the LGBTQ community turned out in force for an openly LGBTQ candidate. It's unclear how that could affect this race.
A third candidate?
It's possible a third candidate for mayor of Bloomington could emerge later this year. Three candidates ran during the last cycle: Mwilambwe, Mike Straza, and Jackie Gunderson. Renner chuckled that further complicates the dynamics of the race.
"You had Democrats split among all three, Republicans at least in two camps. And conservatives in two of the three camps, and liberals in all three camps," said Renner.
In 2021, Mwilambwe won with just under 39% of the vote. Straza had 37%. Jackie Gunderson finished third with about 24%.
It's too early for any interest groups to decide who they will back. Renner said the prospect of a three-way race this time would make it even tougher to predict.
"It's very possible that everybody would be above 30%, which means it would be a really tight race," he said.
And that is why they hold elections.
