| Election Name: | 1981 Los Angeles mayoral election |
| Country: | Los Angeles |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1977 Los Angeles mayoral election |
| Previous Year: | 1977 |
| Next Election: | 1985 Los Angeles mayoral election |
| Next Year: | 1985 |
| Image1: | Tom Bradley, 1980.jpg |
| Candidate1: | Tom Bradley |
| Color1: | c0c0c0 |
| Popular Vote1: | 293,501 |
| Percentage1: | 63.84% |
| Candidate2: | Sam Yorty |
| Color2: | c0c0c0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 148,193 |
| Percentage2: | 32.23% |
| Mayor | |
| Before Election: | Tom Bradley |
| After Election: | Tom Bradley |
The 1981 Los Angeles mayoral election took place on April 7, 1981. Incumbent Tom Bradley was re-elected over former Mayor Sam Yorty. The election was a third rematch between Bradley and Yorty, the other two being in 1969 and 1973.[1] It would be the last time a Mayor would be elected to a third term, as voters amended the city charter in 1993 to implement a two-term limit for the office of Mayor.[2]
Municipal elections in California, including Mayor of Los Angeles, are officially nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot.[2]
Yorty had been a last-minute challenger, saying that he had been urged to run after LAPD Chief Daryl Gates announced that he would not challenge Bradley.[3] [4] Yorty said that he "sees the crime issue as the key to the contest" and was seen as injecting racism into the race by saying to a group of businessmen that "black people are really racist. They vote for black people because they're black."[5] [6] Bradley defeated Yorty and the other candidates in a landslide, with some calling the election a "lackluster affair."[7] [8]