Candidate signs dot the front of Harrisburg city hall on election day,

At first glance, Tuesday’s primary election in Harrisburg seems pretty status quo.

Mayor Wanda Williams narrowly bested her nearest challenger in a crowded Democratic field, just like she did four years ago. For City Council, the three incumbents all won, with a former council member taking the lone open seat among 13 candidates.

Ho-hum, right?

But if you look under the hood, a big difference is evident.

Turnout fell—by a startling amount.

In May 2021, 6,209 primary voters cast ballots for Harrisburg mayor. In May 2025, 4,875 residents voted in the mayoral primary, a stunning drop of 21%.

The question then is—why?

Well, it’s not because the city lost people. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Harrisburg has gained population over that time, adding about 400 residents from 2021 through 2024. And I haven’t noticed anything to indicate that folks here today are less likely to vote than folks in 2021.

So then what’s the reason?

My analysis centers on the race itself.

In 2021, the five candidates for mayor collectively raised and spent much more money than the five candidates did in 2025. As a result, in 2021, there was more advertising, more direct mail, more outreach, more energy and just more engagement with voters.

And, perhaps this is anecdotal, but I personally witnessed much more face-to-face, boots-on-the-ground campaigning in 2021 than in 2025—and that matters, a lot.

I’m a big believer in old-fashioned, aggressive campaigning—getting in front of people, meeting them, shaking their hands, asking for their vote. But, over time, it seems that fewer candidates do that, often leaning on technology, such as social media, and doing little publicly other than attending a few candidate forums or debates organized by others. When candidates do venture out, it’s frequently sporadic and late in the game.

This disengagement gives the incumbent a huge advantage—and I think it showed in this race.

Mayor Williams received almost the same vote total in the 2025 primary as she did in 2021: 1,725 vs. 1,791, respectively. She clearly has a solid, unwavering base of support. It’s the challengers who came up short. In 2021, the non-Williams vote was 4,418, and, in 2025, it was 3,150, a huge drop of 1,268 votes, accounting for almost all the turnout loss.

In other words, the vote was out there—if only the challengers had dug it up.

Now, it’s always tough to unseat an incumbent, who has tremendous name recognition, an established following and can control the media narrative. However, it’s not impossible either, as Harrisburg itself has shown by turning out sitting mayors repeatedly since 2009.

It does, though, require commitment, energy and planning. Williams’ challengers had six-plus months to raise money, message, strategize and, most importantly, become a ubiquitous presence around Harrisburg, a city tailor-made for shoe-leather campaigning.

By election day, residents should be tired of looking at your face. By then, their reaction should be, “Oh, there goes that guy again.”

That’s the challengers’ superpower. While the incumbent is holed up in city hall (or perhaps is complacent), challengers have the streets to themselves. They have months and months to make their case to voters, to uncork the few hundred votes needed to put themselves over the top.

Maybe turning a campaign into a full-time job for six months isn’t much fun. I wouldn’t like it. But if you plan to unseat an entrenched incumbent, you have to do it. Twice now, Williams has turned a lifetime of connections into the city’s top job—which is her superpower. And, twice, that was just enough to slip by her top contender in a five-person field.

A few days ago in Harrisburg, on a beautiful spring day, over 1,300 recent voters chose the sofa over the voting booth. It was up to the candidates to go get those votes, to aggressively engage the electorate, motivate people, inspire them, make them want to head to the polls. The vote was out there—but much of it wound up uncast.

Lawrance Binda is publisher and editor of TheBurg.

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