The Cleveland mayoral election results have begun to trickle in, with Mayor Frank Jackson gaining an early lead over challenger Ken Lanci.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on Tuesday night that Jackson had more than twice the votes as Lanci.
Jackson had 2,213 absentee votes compared with Lanci’s 5,728 votes.
Jackson and businessman Ken Lanci, both Democrats, were the only candidates to enter Cleveland’s mayoral race this year, and avoided a fall primary to advance directly to Tuesday’s general election.
Jackson, 67, is a veteran politician in Cleveland, first elected to the city council in 1989 before being elected mayor eight years ago. He won his second four-year term by a landslide in 2009, getting three-fourths of the vote.
Lanci, 63, is a printing house mogul who lost out on a bid for the new Cuyahoga County executive job in 2010. Democrat Ed FitzGerald, now a candidate for governor, won that race.
“We are confident as always,” said Jackson’s campaign manager Blaine Griffin. “But we’ll be watching until the last vote is counted.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
