[1] This election is remembered for its razor thin margin for the Democratic primary which saw Velazquez win by a singular vote against Emma Tropiano after a lengthy and hotly contested recount.

[2] Incumbent Republican mayor Heydt had been elected in 1993 with 51.9% of the popular vote and vowed to not seek reelection and limit himself to a single term.

[11] Tropiano was a four term veteran councilwomen who entered the city council promising to abolish the downtown historic district law to allow massive demolitions and construction.

Unable to revoke the law as a member of the city council she hoped that being mayor would give her more political capital to achieve her goal.

[10] After a lengthy recount, Senior Judge James N. Diefenderfer announced that Velazquez had won by a singular vote with a total of 2,681 to Tropiano's 2,680.

[16][17] Attempting to turn Heydt's talking points against him, Velazquez argued that a large budget surplus was a sign of sloppy accounting, over-taxation and under utilization of public services.

Heydt responded by pinning the blame on outgoing police chief John Stefanik and pointed out his close cooperation with the DEA to fight drug related crime.

Heydt would defeat Velazquez by a comfortable margin and pledged to return Allentown to its title of “Queen City” of Pennsylvania, after he takes a post-election vacation.