The Canary in the Coal Mine: An Intersectional Analysis of Mayoral Leadership and Political Violence in the Aftermath of COVID-19

We present and examine qualitative interviews to better understand the processes where gender and race mutually constitute each other in a non-additive way to inform the experiences of political violence among women mayors during and post-COVID-19. Drawing on a unique sample of interviews with 31 women mayors serving between 2020 and 2024, our analysis uncovers that COVID-19 era policy changes that allowed for more citizen participation led to additional opportunities for bad actors to blame, threaten, harass, or stalk female mayors. The white women and women of color in our study report incidents of political violence, widely framed, which have altered their outlook on public service and remaining in public office. Our study centers the voices of female mayors to elucidate feelings about and responses to political violence. By highlighting women’s narratives, we glean deeper insights into the situations and context surrounding how they dealt with incidences of political violence.