Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval is running for a second four-year term, facing Republican challenger Cory Bowman.
Pureval easily won his first term in 2021 against a fellow Democrat, and is expected to win again this year. Cincinnati hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1971, and Bowman is the first Republican candidate in the general election in 16 years.
Bowman's half-brother is Vice President JD Vance — a fact that raises his profile in conservative circles, but likely works against him in deeply blue Cincinnati.
Pureval is critical of Bowman's ties to national politics.
"You either support the Trump agenda or you don't," Pureval said during an Oct. 9 debate. "[Bowman] has not taken this campaign seriously, not showed up in the community, has spent more time on Fox News running down the city that he ultimately wants to lead."
Bowman says he wants to keep the focus on Cincinnati.
"National politics is on everybody's mind, but when it comes to City Hall, people are tired of it. They just want people to do their job when it comes to taking care of the citizens of Cincinnati," Bowman said in the same debate. "Let's just address the elephant in the room — my brother is JD Vance, OK. But the thing is, is that we're running this race for Cincinnati."
Learn more about each candidate and their positions on top issues below.
Note: WVXU's Cincinnati Edition will broadcast a pre-recorded election interview with Pureval on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Bowman has not responded to multiple requests for an interview. The invitation remains open.
Quotes from Bowman in this article are primarily taken from a mayoral debate on Oct. 9, hosted by the Cincinnati Enquirer and Xavier University. You can watch the full debate at the bottom of this article.
About Pureval
Pureval, 43, lives in Clifton with his wife and two sons. As the son of immigrants from India and Tibet, he's the city's first Asian American mayor.
He grew up in the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek and went to Ohio State University, where he was student body president — the launching pad for more than a few careers in Ohio politics.
Pureval earned his law degree and worked for Procter & Gamble before running for Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in 2016, defeating Republican incumbent Tracy Winkler and breaking a decades-long GOP hold on the clerk's office. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2018.
He is endorsed by the Hamilton County Democratic Party.
About Bowman
Bowman, 36, registered for the mayoral race with an address in College Hill. He says he moved Downtown over the summer, where he lives with his wife and four children.
According to his campaign website, he grew up in Butler County and graduated from Miami University, before moving to Tampa, Florida, to study at River University. Bowman and his family moved to Cincinnati from the Tampa Bay area about five years ago, founding The River Church in the West End in 2020. Bowman also is co-owner of Kings Arms Coffee in the West End.
This is Bowman's first election. He came a distant second in the three-way primary earlier this year, with nearly 13% (2,894 votes) compared to Pureval's nearly 83% (18,505 votes).
He is endorsed by the Hamilton County Republican Party.
On public safety
Crime and public safety have been top of mind this election cycle. A spike in crime over the summer was larger than the usual increase during warm weather, and a brawl outside a bar in July went viral on social media, with national politicians weighing in on crime in the city.
Pureval says public safety was the top priority at City Hall long before this summer.
"Crime is down across the city," he told WVXU. But by focusing on that earlier in the summer, I was wrong to miss the point that the trauma of these crimes affects not just the people who are victims of the crime or the people who witnessed it, but really instills fear throughout the entire city."
Pureval says his administration, as well as City Council, took many actions to address concerns about public safety. That includes establishing a new Street Crimes Task Force, creating new police officer foot patrols, enforcing new curfew rules for minors, accepting state help from Gov. Mike DeWine, and working to recruit more police officers.
"For the previous three years [of his term], despite having similar levels of crime, there was not this public outcry for that kind of visibility," Pureval said. "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 has often criticized the city's response to crime in general, as well as the viral fight in July. He accuses the city of not allowing police officers to enforce certain laws (which Pureval and other city officials deny).
"Tell that to the cop after cop after cop that has come into my coffee shop and said that they believe that the crime is up, and they believe that even the stats are false, and they believe that the city is unsafe and all they want to do is their job, and that's what we will allow them to do with our city," Bowman said during the Enquirer debate.
Bowman criticizes the dispatchers who answer 911 calls at the Emergency Communications Center; he wants management of the ECC to be transferred to the police department, away from the City Manager's Office.
On his campaign website and in posts on social media, Bowman says the city should eliminate the Alternative Response to Crisis program and other programs that have non-police teams respond to some non-violent calls for service. He says funding for those programs should be given to the police department instead. Bowman has called to eliminate city grants for outside organizations working to prevent crime.
Read more on public safety:
- Cincinnati approves spending an additional $5.4M on public safety
- How to find and understand Cincinnati crime data
- Hamilton County judges respond to concerns about public safety
- Listen: Cincinnati police union files complaint against community responders
On zoning, development & community input
Pureval sponsored the 2024 Connected Communities zoning reform. He also supported the Hyde Park Square development zoning change that Council approved earlier this year (and later rescinded at the request of the development team).
"Community voices, particularly community councils, are critically important for that process," Pureval told WVXU. "But it's also important to understand that there are other interests that we have to consider, like subject matter experts; like people who are very concerned about our lack of of building housing. And the reason that's a concern is because of housing affordability. Over the past 10 years, our population has grown, which is all good news, but in that same 10 year period, we've actually lost housing. So there are more people living here and fewer places for them to live."
Pureval says his administration has set a goal to build 40,000 housing units over the next 10 years — 4,000 a year.
"We have not hit that goal yet, but we are working very, very hard to finance the projects, to legalize the projects through zoning code changes, and to make sure that we have strong relationships with the federal government and the state government to ensure that we are getting our fair share of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which make up about 90 percent of the affordable developments happening in the city of Cincinnati," Pureval said during the Enquirer debate.
Bowman says the Hyde Park Square development controversy is evidence that Connected Communities was a bad idea.
"A vote is not a blank check to do whatever you want," Bowman said in the Enquirer debate. "A vote is a confidence that you're always going to listen to the voices of the community and actually say, 'Hey, this is what they want. This is what our policies are going to reflect.' "
Bowman also criticized the way the city has funded affordable housing projects, saying the city has concentrated such housing in certain neighborhoods
"In the West End, there's about 67 to 70 percent concentrated poverty, concentrated affordable housing, or government subsidized housing, whatever you want to call it," Bowman said in the debate. "And so I do agree that we cannot have these concentrations of poverty, which turns into concentrated crime, and that does affect the Black community."
Read more on zoning, development and community input:
- Analysis: Hyde Park Square development will be a campaign issue, referendum or not
- What's next for the Hyde Park Square development?
- Greater Cincinnati grew a lot last year, but population projections are down
Mayoral debate
Pureval and Bowman participated in a debate on Oct. 9 hosted by the Cincinnati Enquirer and Xavier University.
You can watch the full debate below from WCPO:
Analysis of the election
WVXU's Cincinnati Edition hosted a live politics show, with analysis of the city's mayoral and City Council races.
The panel included Senior Political Analyst Howard Wilkinson and Local Government Reporter Becca Costello, both of WVXU, as well as Xavier University professor of political science Mack Mariani, and staff reporter and columnist for the Cincinnati Business Courier Chris Wetterich.
Watch the full discussion below:
Read more:
