CINCINNATI, Ohio—After he advanced from the primary to the general election in May, Cincinnati mayoral candidate Cory Bowman took a breather for a few weeks.
At the time, the pastor, coffee shop owner, and Vice President JD Vance’s younger brother knew that his first bid for public office would be challenging in a deep blue city with a Democratic mayor and an all-Democratic City Council.
But а series of events over the summer, including an inner-city brawl, changed his confidence about the race because the incidents escalated concerns about violent crime.
Since then, Democrat Mayor Aftab Pureval and the City Council have faced increased criticism about how they have handled what Bowman calls “a crime epidemic” in Cincinnati. The events changed the outlook of the mayoral race, Bowman believes, and he now feels his campaign has momentum heading into the final days.
“What started as me thinking that we were going to be making a statement by giving Cincinnati residents a choice has turned into a campaign that is generating a lot of support,” Bowman told The Epoch Times on Oct. 30.
“This is not a red versus blue race. This is an election about the short-term and long-term safety and vitality of Cincinnati. People recognize our city needs a change in leadership if we are going to have safe streets again, and an atmosphere that is inviting to businesses, residents, and visitors.”
A Republican has not sat in the Cincinnati mayor’s seat since the late 1970s. Though Ohio has a strong Republican presence, and President Donald Trump comfortably won the state in the past three elections, Democrats control Cincinnati. Voters have cast their ballots three to one for Democratic candidates in recent presidential elections in Ohio’s third-largest city.
Pureval, 43, is seeking a second term as mayor. He is a lawyer and former special assistant U.S. attorney who served as Hamilton County clerk of courts before winning the 2021 mayoral race with about 66 percent of the vote.
Only 10 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls during this year’s mayoral primary, when Pureval gained 83 percent of the ballots compared with 13 percent for Bowman. In Cincinnati, the top two candidates in the primary advance to the general election.
Pureval, when asked if he thinks the race is competitive, said, “I would refer you to the primary.”
“I’m out in the community every weekend, most evenings, and the feedback I’m getting is that they’re encouraged about the future,” he said.
A turning point in the race happened in the early morning hours of July 26, Bowman said. A brawl erupted downtown at 3:06 a.m., when the area was crowded with more than 150,000 people attending a Cincinnati Reds game, the Cincinnati Music Festival, and a basketball tournament.
The brawl went viral. Two white people were brutally attacked by multiple black men and women, sparking concerns about race and crime in Cincinnati.
Pureval said public safety is a top priority for his administration.
“I will always support the police,“ Pureval said at a debate with Bowman in September. ”My administration always says yes to [the Cincinnati Police Department].
“For the previous three years, despite having similar levels of crime, there was not this public outcry for that kind of visibility. So we are trying to be eyes wide open about evolving with what our community wants and giving it to them. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Bowman noted that the Fraternal Order of Police and the Firefighters Union have endorsed his campaign. The Fraternal Order of Police announced a vote of no confidence in Pureval in August.
Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police President Ken Kober said he has never seen the order have a vote of no confidence against the mayor in his 25-year career. Kober noted that order members cited in their vote that Pureval took too long to respond to the July 26 brawl.
“We went three days without the mayor having said anything; you could feel the tension rising in Cincinnati,” Kober said.
He said that “this unanimous vote of no confidence is a clear message from our members that Mayor Pureval’s leadership has fallen short in supporting the men and women who protect this city every day.”
Pureval said that he doesn’t believe the order’s vote “reflects the work we’ve done in collaboration with our officers.”
“We’ve had the backs of law enforcement, without fail, every step of the way since taking office,” he said.
