The election for Cincinnati City Council this year will have the fewest number of candidates in at least three decades.
By the time Friday's deadline passed, 11 people had submitted petitions with enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot. The Hamilton County Board of Elections has determined a 12th candidate did not submit enough valid signatures, but that could be appealed.
All nine seats (all at-large) are on the ballot for the Nov. 7 election.
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The candidates include all current members of council. Although the race is officially non-partisan, eight are endorsed by the Democratic Party, and one more endorsed Democrat hopes to replace Liz Keating, the only Republican currently on council.
This will be the first time appointed Council Member Seth Walsh is on the ballot. He took office late last year to fill the seat left vacant by now-Congressman Greg Landsman.
Candidate list:
(In alphabetical order by last name)
- Anna Albi (endorsed Democrat)
- Audricia Brooks (party affiliation unknown)
- Jeff Cramerding (first elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Reggie Harris (first elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Mark Jeffreys (first elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Scotty Johnson (first elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney (first appointed in 2020, elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Liz Keating (first appointed in 2020, elected in 2021, endorsed Republican)
- Meeka Owens (first elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Victoria Parks (first elected in 2021, endorsed Democrat)
- Seth Walsh (first appointed in 2022, endorsed Democrat)
Richardo Hayward filed petitions and the Board of Elections preliminary determined he does not have enough valid signatures. Hayward and Audricia Brooks do not appear to have an online campaign presence and both reported $0 in contributions and expenditures in the latest campaign finance report.
WVXU Senior Political Analyst Howard Wilkinson says this will likely be a no-change or little-change election.
"I'm not surprised at how few candidates are running, mainly because of the dominance of the Democratic party," Wilkinson said. "The power of the slate card cannot be overestimated in this city. The Democrats are in charge — they rule."
The last council election, in 2021, had a record high 35 candidates. The Democrats endorsed nine candidates and won eight seats, leaving room only for Republican Liz Keating.
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The Democratic slate this year is nearly identical, with Seth Walsh replacing Greg Landsman, and with the addition of Anna Albi. Party officials hope to win all nine seats, but Wilkinson says it's hard to imagine Keating getting voted out; she's challenged state and federal leaders in her own party on issues like gun control and affordable housing, and has proven she can work with council members on the other side of the aisle.
"And there are a lot of them," Wilkinson said.
A previous candidate for council, Jaime Castle, filed enough signatures to be on the ballot and sought the Democratic endorsement. She withdrew from the race sometime after losing that endorsement.
That leaves a very real possibility that all nine current council members are still in office next year. But, Wilkinson says, there's an equal chance that Albi replaces Walsh.
"Walsh's problems are pretty obvious," Wilkinson said, referring to an investigation from the city's Office of Ethics and Good Government, part of which has been forwarded to the Ohio Ethics Commission for further investigation.
He's also never been on the ballot for council before, and has only been in office for one year compared to the two-plus years of everyone else on council.
But despite his relatively short amount of time in the race, he's raised just over $56,000 as of June 30; that's twice what Albi has raised, and is more than five current council members.
The first campaign finance report for the Cincinnati Election Commission covers contributions and expenditures through June 30. The next report is due after the election, by Dec. 15. These reports are available electronically on the city website.
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However, state law requires a campaign finance report on Oct. 26 covering activity through Oct. 18. These reports can be filed either electronically or on paper; you can search by candidate name on the Secretary of State website.
Here's a summary of campaign finances through June 30, as reported to the Ohio Secretary of State:
November election
The deadline to register to vote in the November election is Oct. 10 at 11:59 p.m. The deadline is the same if you are already registered to vote in Ohio but have moved to a new address.
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You can check online to see if you are registered to vote. If you are not registered, you can sign up through the Ohio Secretary of State's website.
Early voting starts Oct. 11.
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
