Let’s compare homicide rates in red and blue cities of comparable size.
America’s major cities are virtually entirely Democrat-controlled. Only four of the 36 cities with populations exceeding 500,000 have Republican mayors. However, as you get into places with numbers under 500,000, you have a good balance of party control. You can then create some relevant comparisons.
For this exercise, I’ve included cities with populations of 400,000 to 500,000 people. I used the Mayor’s party as a loose proxy to designate the city as “red” or “blue” (I recognize that this isn’t a peer-reviewed paper).
While Colorado Springs has an Independent mayor who was sworn in two months ago, the city has had a long series of Republican mayors, therefore I am considering that city as red for this exercise.
The homicide rates for each city in 2022 are as follows:
Blue Cities
Atlanta: 170 homicides, or 34.1 per 100,000
Raleigh: 49 homicides, or 10.5 per 100,000
Long Beach: 36 homicides, or 7.7 per 100,000
Oakland: 134 homicides, or 30.4 per 100,000 (NOTE: 2021 data, couldn’t find 2022)
Minneapolis: 81 homicides, or 18.8 per 100,000
BLUE CITY HOMICIDE AVERAGE: 20.3 per 100,000
Red Cities
Omaha: 29 homicides, or 6.0 per 100,000
Colorado Springs: 54 homicides, or 11.3 per 100,000
Virginia Beach: 23 homicides, or 5.0 per 100,000
Miami: 47 homicides, or 10.6 per 100,000
Tulsa: 68 homicides, or 16.5 per 100,000
Bakersfield: 38 homicides, or 9.4 per 100,000
RED CITY HOMICIDE AVERAGE: 9.8 per 100,000
Failure is a choice.
You don’t have to like Republicans, but people in all of these violent blue cities should demand better from their elected leaders.