ATLANTA — How important is it that the next mayor be black?

That is the knotty question in Atlanta, the celebrated base of African-American cultural, economic and political power that has only had black mayors since the Ford administration — and also gave the world a man who spoke of judging people on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

The question, particularly in black circles, has been animating cocktail parties, college homecomings and water-cooler chat, a reaction to a trio of ambitious white candidates who are among the eight major contenders in a wide-open race to replace Mayor Kasim Reed. The election Tuesday will almost certainly see the top two candidates head to a runoff, and it comes as many African-Americans around the country are recalibrating their ideas about race and politics in the midst of the Trump presidency.

“It’s a very hot topic — right now people are feeling responsible for making sure a black mayor is elected again,” said Kelley Bass Jackson, the former daughter-in-law of Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor, who noted, pointedly, that she does not subscribe to this way of thinking. “They want that because that’s what we know.”

Mr. Reed, who is barred by term limits from seeking a third four-year term, has overseen a period of urban renaissance that has also seen Atlanta become wealthier and whiter. Since 2010, the percentage of blacks has diminished from 54 percent of the city population to about 51 percent.