2025 Columbia, Missouri mayoral election
Open-knowledge reference entry
Columbia, Missouri, held a mayoral election on April 8, 2025, concurrently with elections for the city council members for city wards 3 and 4. The incumbent mayor, Barbara Buffaloe, was re-elected to a second term in office. She garnered just over 55 percent of the total citywide vote.
Background
In 2022, former Columbia Sustainability Manager Barbara Buffaloe won the mayoral election to succeed outgoing Mayor Brian Treece, subsequently being sworn into office on April 18, 2022. Buffaloe sought re-election to a second term, announcing her second consecutive mayoral campaign on January 28, 2025. At this launch event, Buffaloe outlined her campaign's guiding themes, hoping to convince voters with accomplishments from her first term.
Buffaloe faced-off against two challengers during the election campaign; paint store owner Blair "Murph" Murphy and Missouri School of Journalism adjunct professor Tanya Heath. Both of these challengers qualified for the general election ballot, while Lucio Bitoy IV achieved ballot access as a recognized write-in candidate. A major theme for the mayoral election was improving city safety and the reduction of crime in the Columbia area, with all three qualified candidates making it a central issue of their respective campaigns.
The mayor's campaign garnered endorsements from various local groups, including the local union representing public sector employees in the Columbia city government.
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