East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio-Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson beat longtime Councilman Zack Reed in a non-partisan runoff election Tuesday evening, the three-term Black mayor winning an unprecedented fourth term to continue his reign over the largely Black major American city, and three sitting members of the 17-member Cleveland City Council lost.
The mayor and all of city council, nine White and seven Blacks, are all Democrats, though Tuesday's election brought on a Latino, making city council next year situated with eight Whites, eight Blacks, all of them east side councilpersons, and one Latino.
Ward 1 Councilman Terrell Pruitt lost to former councilman Joe Jones, Ward 7 Councilman T.J. Dow lost to Basheer Jones, and Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins lost to Jasmin Santana, a Democrat and the only Latinio in the races for Cleveland City Council..
Ward 1 Councilman Terrell Pruitt lost to former councilman Joe Jones, Ward 7 Councilman T.J. Dow lost to Basheer Jones, and Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins lost to Jasmin Santana.
All three of the city council races at issue were close, Pruitt and Dow both losing by less than one percent, and Cummins taking a loss by about two percent.
Pruitt lost by eight votes and Dow lost by 13 votes, a recount of which is in progress for all three, Dow, Pruitt and Cummins, and expected to be concluded by Nov 28.
On-leave former Cleveland NAACP President Michael Nelson Sr won against Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Michael Sliwinski in the closely watched Cleveland judicial race, a three-way race that also included Marlene Ridenour.
Jackson ally, City Council President Kevin Kelley, also won reelection with ease and will likely be chosen by his city council colleagues to continue on as council president, sources said yesterday
Jackson won with 60 percent of the vote to Reed's 40 percent, according to unofficial results of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Reed came in second to Jackson in a primary election that drew nine total candidates, Jackson finishing the primary with 39 percent of the vote to Reed's 22 percent.
In East Cleveland, Mayor Brandon King, a Democrat who, by virtue of the city charter, stepped up to the position last year after voters recalled then mayor Gary Norton, easily defeated activist and Green Party candidate Devin Branch. And East Cleveland Councilman Ernest Smith retained his seat.
The races for mayor in Cleveland and East Cleveland and for city council in Cleveland were among several races in Cuyahoga County, including suburban races for judge, council and mayor.
Longtime Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden lost to Martin Horwitz in a heated election, and University Heights Mayor Susan Infeld, mayor since 2010, was defeated by Michael Brennan, an attorney who has never held public office.
Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne, a supporter of President Trump, also lost, voters saying they were just simply tired of Coyne.
Voter turnout was low in both Cleveland and East Cleveland and elsewhere, with only 30 percent of registered voters in Cuyahoga County, which is roughly 29 percent Black, casting ballots.
But Tuesday's figure is greater than the voter turnout of a dismal 12.95 percent for the Sept 12 primary.
Both Cleveland and East Cleveland are Democratic strongholds in the heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County, the second largest of 88 counties statewide, behind Franklin County, which includes the capital city of Columbus, Ohio's largest city, which is followed by Cleveland.
Jackson and Reed outdid mayoral candidate Councilman Jeff Johnson in the primary, who came in third and then announced his support of Reed, support that could not bring Reed over the hump to oust the popular Jackson, a former city council president endorsed by the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, the majority of city council and a host of others.
Reed won the endorsement of the Cleveland Police Patromen's Association while Jackson garnered the endorsement from the fire fighters union
For judge-ships in Cleveland, in addition to Michael Nelson, who ousted Judge Sliwinski, judges Joe Zone, Pinkey Carr and Michelle Denise Earley ran unopposed, Judge Jimmy Jackson, a Republican, lost to Ann Clare Oakar, Republican Judge Janet Rath Colaluca lost to closet challenger Jazmin Torres -Lugo, and Sheila Turner McCall won an open seat over Lynn McLaughlin-Murray and Craig Willis.
Cleveland Housing Court Judge Ronald O'Leary, a Republican, held off Democrat W. Mona Scott to keep his judicial seat.
In closely watched judicial races in suburban Cleveland James Costello will replace retiring Cleveland Heights Municipal Court Judge A. Deane Buchanan, South Euclid Judge Gale Williams -Byers retained her seat, and controversial Lyndhurst Municipal Court Judge Mary Kaye Bozza lost her judicial seat to Dominic Coletta.
In the races for 17 seats on the largely White Cleveland City Council in which Blacks currently lead in the largely Black wards 1,2,4,5,6,7,9 and 10 there were no surprises other than losses by councilpersons Pruitt to Joe Jones, Dow to Basheer Jones, and Cummins to Jasmin Santana.
In Ward 2, the council seat held by outgoing Councilman Reed, who chose to run for mayor and not reelection to city council, went to Kevin Bishop, who outdid Geoff Fitch.
Ward 10 Councilman Anthony Hairston, a member of the 11-member Cuyahoga County Council, beat Eugene Miller, a former state representative and former city councilman who lost his council seat to Jeff Johnson in 2010 when city council was reduced from 19 seats to 17 via redistricting.
Ten people sought the Ward 10 council seat in the primary election, the city council race with the most crowded field of candidates in the primary.
Other Cleveland City Council winners were Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack, Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson, who won in a close election over Gail Sparks, Ward 5 Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin, Ward 8 Councilman Michael Polensek, Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, Ward 11 Councilwoman Dona Brady, Ward 12 Councilman Anthony Brancatelli, Ward 15 Councilman Matt Zone, Ward 16 Councilman Brian Kazy, and Ward 17 Councilman Martin Keane.
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