Tanmay Shah Photo by Arfil" class="uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle"> click to enlarge Tanmay Shah - Photo by Arfil
Tanmay Shah
Seven Cleveland City Council wards saw competitive primaries on Tuesday, including one open seat, one featuring two incumbents, and one with an embattled sitting councilman facing censure.
Turnout, as all expected, was dismal. Just about 7% of registered voters -- a little under 9,000 -- cast ballots citywide.
There were no surprises, and there's only so much you can tease out from the results given the turnout and races. But even with incumbents coming out of the gate strong, a few storylines emerged that are worth following in the coming weeks ahead of the November general election.
1. Tanmay Shah Has a Real Shot in Ward 12
Incumbent Danny Kelly came away with 669 votes, according to unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, with challenger Tanmay Shah tallying 422 and moving on to November. Andrew DeFratis, the other challenger in the ward, drew 268 votes.
The ward saw by far the tightest gap between incumbent and challenger, and it wouldn't be surprising to see DeFratis voters moving to Shah's camp this fall. Kelly has faced vocal backlash after going to war to turn a vacant CVS on Madison into a gas station proposed by two of his previous campaign donors. It struck many as a bizarre and unnecessary use of political capital on an issue that had widespread community opposition.
Shah, a union organizer and attorney who was endorsed and supported by the progressive A Better Cleveland for All PAC, looks to have made significant inroads in the ward given last night's results. And with the two challengers together receiving more votes than Kelly -- the only instance of that happening across Tuesday's races -- there seems to be a clear sentiment that makes Kelly the most vulnerable incumbent on the ballot.
2. Rebecca Maurer Has Ground to Make Up in Ward 5
Forced to lose two wards, Cleveland's redistricting process was bound to bring some interesting incumbent-on-incumbent races.
The new Ward 5, covering Central, Downtown, Slavic Village and Kinsman, is one of them.
Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer, who vigorously opposed the process and results of the new maps, was drawn into a race against fellow councilman Richard Starr.
Whereas Maurer's current ward was split into parts of six new ones, Starr's current ward includes much of the new turf, including Central. The questions have been how Maurer would fare in the predominantly African-American ward and how turnout Downtown would impact the race.
Early results weren't entirely surprising given those facts, with Starr receiving 627 votes compared to Maurer's 229.
But given Maurer's upset win against 16-year incumbent Tony Brancatelli in 2021 and the ground game that it took to make that happen, there's certainly reason to believe the margin won't look the same later this year.
“I am happy to be moving on to the November 4 general election," Maurer told Scene Wednesday morning. "But I am disappointed in both the low primary turnout numbers and the spread. Our goal is to continue our work of door knocking and community building so that the vote in the general is based on the will of the voters across all of Ward 5.”
3. Scandals Haven't Dampened Support for Joe Jones in Ward 1
Facing a censure vote from his colleagues after a string of investigations into misconduct allegations, Joe Jones nevertheless took home 1,070 votes in Tuesday's primary. Current State Rep. Juanita Brent received 537 and will advance to the November general while other challengers collected negligible votes. (Aylwin Bridges - 47; Lesa Jones Dollar - 69; Marc Crosby - 48.)
Jones has been accused of threatening to kill a City Hall staff member, of making inappropriate comments to a female artist, of touching the breast of a staffer, and of general bullying behavior. Despite all that, he received enough votes from the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party's executive committee to receive the group's endorsement, not only in the original vote but in a re-vote following news of the latest investigation. (This is not entirely surprising given how members of the executive committee are selected.)
Juanita Brent entered the race late and, though a Cleveland native from the ward she hopes to represent and boasting name power as a multi-term state representative, didn't kick off her campaign as early as other challengers. Does the impending censure vote change anything? Can Brent make headway in the closing weeks? Will there be an investigation into some new misconduct allegation in the coming weeks? Anything is possible, including Jones continuing to shed scandals on the way to victory.
4. Ward 7 Remains One of the City's Most Interesting Races
A Cleveland City Council election with no incumbent is a rarity up there with a Browns playoff berth. We have two this year, including the new Ward 7. Austin Davis led primary results with 950 votes followed by Mohammad Faraj with 564. Mike Rogalski received 187 and will not advance to the general.
Spanning Tremont, Ohio City, Downtown and Detroit-Shoreway, Ward 7 includes some of the most engaged voters in Cleveland. While Davis enjoys early momentum, the race that we thought would be one of the most interesting in the city looks like it will be exactly that. And, as weird as it sounds, we're curious where Rogalski supporters will migrate to, as his platform never really overlapped with either that of Davis and Faraj.
5. It's Still Early
While we're reading into some of these results, it is with the caveat that two months remain in the campaigns and primary results with a turnout in the single digits doesn't necessarily represent how voters who will only cast ballots in the general feel.
As always, some of these are going to come down to turnout. (We wouldn't be surprised if one of them is decided by a few dozen votes.) So get out to some events and learn more about the candidates in the coming weeks, and then get your ass to your polling place in November.
Other results not covered above:
Ward 3: Deborary Gray comfortably advances to November with 654 votes while the race for second place to run against her was decided by just 16 ballots, with Erich Stubbs advancing (129) over Sharon Spruill (113).
Ward 8: Stephanie Howse Jones (562 votes) will face Charlotte Perkins (172 votes) in November.
Ward 9: Kevin Conwell receieved 938 votes. He'll face Alana Belle (218 votes) in the general.
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