What is more prestigious? Mayor or state representative?

27 comments

1. Mayor for sure

2. No one cares about mayors of small towns.

   Definitely state rep is more prestigious.

3. 10k is pretty much nothing, so I’d say a state rep.

4. I didnt know it was a contest.

   Are you trying to decide which one to run for?

5. A state rep has more power to actually influence the law. Most mayors can’t really do much.

6. Depends on Mayor of where.

   Mayor of Nowhere, population 300. . .not prestigious

   Mayor of Chicago or New York. . . pretty prestigious.

7. State rep

8. Depends on the city, but lots of Mayors are just the chair of the city council, and there’s a professional city manager that actually runs everything.

9. I would not call state rep prestigious. I think this is one that REALLY depends on what they are the mayor of.

   And some states mayors have very different functions. Here in Massachusetts they have a lot of responsibilities. I think some states it’s different.

10. Depends on the city

    Mayor of LA/NYC > state rep

    State rep > small town with less than 100,000 people

11. I would say that being a state-level congressman is usually more powerful, but being the mayor would be more prestigious, if that makes sense. The mayor’s name is usually in the local news way more often than the state-level representatives, no matter how big the town/city.

12. Large cities? Mayor.

    Podunk towns? State rep.

13. Probably mayor. Your average person can’t name any state reps

14. I wouldn’t call either prestigious.

15. The people of the city in question would find the mayor prestigious I think but the rest of the people in the state wouldn’t care. In a lot of small towns, the mayor can be HUGELY important.

16. I suppose it depends on the circumstances.

    I have no idea who my state representatives even are. New York is pretty famous or maybe infamous for having a strong executive/weak legislature. There are undoubtedly states where state representatives, especially high ranking state representatives, wield tremendous power though.

    Then you have situations where small town mayors do wield tremendous power. I imagine that’s somewhat common in more rural populations.

17. Depends on the city.

    Mayor of Chicago (pop. 2.7 million) is arguably more prestigious than governor of Illinois. Mayor of Allerton, Illinois (pop. 262) is much less.

18. A town that small, state rep is more prestigious. If we are talking about a major city, mayor is more prestigious.

19. I’ve lived in towns of less than 2000 people. Being the mayor of a town that size isn’t prestigious at all outside of that particular town. Even the in state I grew up in where the largest city only has 63k residents that mayor wouldn’t be considered a big deal outside of the state maybe not even out side of the city.

    Now I live in the greater Atlanta area and I couldn’t tell you the name of the mayor of Atlanta or my local town (population 14k) for that matter. I do know who my state representative is though.

20. Everybody knows a town crier is more prestigious than mayor or state rep

21. It depends on the city. The mayor of Chicago is more prestigious than a random Illinois state representative, but the mayor of Albion is probably less, except (maybe) inside the city limits.

    (Cities chosen at random, no offense meant to any residents of Albion, IL or Chicago.)

22. State rep by far.

    I used to be a reporter in my town of probably more than 10k and have already forgotten who the mayor is.

    I know absolutely who my state rep is.

23. Mayor of a big city is more prestigious than state rep in a low population state.

    State rep in a high pop state is more prestigious than mayor of a small town.

24. Mayor of a large city> state rep

25. Neither? Your job is to represent our collective interest and well-being, not to try to be a local celebrity.

26. Mayor is at least somewhat respectable, because they have some semblance of accountability to their actions. They actually govern. State reps, congress, and such are loathsome as fuck. Professional voters and law writers. Just awful humans.

27. Depends on where you are.

    Mayor of Los Angeles? Very important. There are probably 10-12 or more State Representatives coming out of the city of LA. But that is the second-most populous city in the USA, so that’s a big area to cover.

    In most cases, I would say a State Representative is probably a ‘higher’ position, and usually covers more area and people than all but very large city mayors.