USA TODAY National
It's not been a typical mayoral race in Cincinnati.
First off, Republicans don't often run for mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio's third largest city that has voted 3-to-1 Democratic in recent presidential elections. The last Republican to run for mayor, Brad Wenstrup, lost to Mark Mallory in 2009. It worked out for Wenstrup, though, when he rolled his mayoral campaign into a 12-year congressional career.
This time around, the Republican candidate for Cincinnati mayor also happens to be Vice President JD Vance's half-brother: Cory Bowman, a pastor at a church in Cincinnati's West End.
Despite, or maybe because of, Bowman's personal relationship to the White House, Bowman faces a steep climb to unseat Democratic incumbent Aftab Pureval.
"We’ll just say I think a Bowman win would be a political earthquake," said Xavier University Political Science Professor Mack Mariani. "It would be a tsunami, Sharknado, earthquake combination. It’s a very Democratic city, as most urban cities are."
Early voting starts Oct. 7. Election Day is Nov. 4.
Is the race competitive?
While Bowman survived a three-way mayoral primary in May, he finished a distant second with 13% of the vote, well behind Pureval's 83%. Bowman supporters point to the low turnout in the primary, in which only 10% of registered voters showed up to the polls.
There doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm from political donors on either side. Compared to the previous mayoral election, little has been spent and raised by either candidate. The races are officially nonpartisan but party politics play a big role in the campaigns.
There's been no television or radio advertising yet. Pureval has outraised Bowman so far,$127,000 to $23,000 as of the last reports filed in June and July by the candidates. That's compared to the $431,000 Pureval had raised by the same time in his first mayoral run in 2021.
The campaigns have largely played out online and door-to-door. Bowman and the Republicans running for Cincinnati City Council have campaigned under a "Flip the 'Nati" slogan. Pureval's slogan is "Strength in Unity." Democrats control city government, from mayor to all nine City Council members.
Pureval said he's out door-knocking most evenings. Does he see the race as competitive?
"I would refer you to the primary," Pureval told The Enquirer, referring to the primary in which he outperformed Bowman by 70 percentage points.
"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.
Bowman said he's got a lean campaign staff of a "handful of people." He declined to name his campaign manager publicly because they've been targeted by threats, he said.
"We're just keeping it simple, keeping it on door knocking, keeping it on signage, keeping it on just getting our message out to as many people as we can," Bowman said.
Dark time for Bowman campaign after the primary
Right after the primary, Bowman's campaign went quiet with few public statements or appearances.
Bowman told The Enquirer at the time he was regrouping. Behind the scenes Bowman said he knew he faced long odds, he told supporters in September.
"When we got out of the primary, to be honest with you, based on everything going on, I kind of went in a cave," Bowman said at a fundraiser in September in Corryville, Ohio. "Because I was like, 'Hey we're making a stand right now. We're going to November, but there's not really a shot of this.'"
So in June, Bowman said he found himself behind the counter of his coffee shop he owns across the street from his church in Cincinnati's West End. He said he heard customer after customer, many police officers, voice various complaints about city leadership. That feedback gave his campaign motivation, he said.
Crime brought more attention to the race
Then a brawl broke out on Cincinnati's Fourth Street in the early morning hours of July 26. The videos of people shouting, taking fighting stances and getting pummeled went viral. It hit on issues of race and crime in cities, creating a perfect political storm.
Bowman began attacking the mayor and current administration for being soft on crime and posting about incidents of violent crime downtown. Pureval and the administration responded with videos and press conferences touting the city's efforts to combat crime and touting the city as safe. Crime statistics from the police show overall, crime has dropped across the city over the past three years. Still, property crimes in some areas, including downtown, have risen.
Pureval has touted steps the city has taken, including a stronger curfew, more police recruitment classes, more drones and more visible police patrols.
"The long-term strategy is recruiting and retaining more police officers so that we have the manpower to increase our visibility throughout the city and also enforce the law," Pureval said. "Those recruit classes are a really big part of that."
Bowman described a city administration he believes is tying the hands of officers and impeding their ability to apprehend criminals. If elected, he said he'd aim to hold weekly press conferences naming judges who release prisoners too early.
"Get the judges and the prosecutor to wake up and just say, 'Hey, we need to be a little bit harsher on what's going on in our city," Bowman said. "This whole revolving door of criminals has to stop."
Bowman has toned down his rhetoric
Bowman came out of the gate with a spicy speech at his launch in March. He slammed the city's sanctuary status as an invitation for "traffickers, cartels and criminals that can't go anywhere else." For anyone who inappropriately touches a child, he said, he'll have a "Glock to nuts policy."
Since then, he's omitted "Glocks" and "nuts" from his campaign speeches in favor of more traditional political fare about crime and other policy.
"I need you to understand the journey we've been on with this," Bowman told his supporters at a September fundraiser. "Because for me, it wasn't like, 'Oh, here's some political ambitions that I've always had my whole life. Now is my start. No, it's all about impact."
Vance not involved in brother's campaign
Beyond a post on X the day of the primary urging people to vote for his half-brother, the vice president hasn't been publicly involved in the race. Vance didn't vote in the primary and didn't donate to Bowman's campaign, according to records from the Board of Elections.
Bowman said that's true behind the scenes, too. When the pair talk, it's usually about 'Star Wars' and their children, he said.
"He'll ask how the campaign's doing, and I'll ask him how being vice president is, and it's usually a short talk," Bowman said. "At the end of this, I would rather have a brother than a political advisor."
Few debates
Voters have had few opportunities to compare the candidates side-by-side. Bowman and Pureval held a few debates in the primary.
Bowman, however, has not appeared at several high-profile forums Pureval attended.
Bowman, when asked by The Enquirer, a USA TODAY Network partner, why he didn't show up to the forums, wouldn't say, and pointed the finger back at Pureval.
"There’s other events I’ve been to in the city he hasn’t attended as well,” Bowman said. Bowman wouldn't specify what those events were.
Both will be at a debate on Oct. 9, hosted by The Enquirer in partnership with Xavier University and Cincinnati Citicable.
Bowman has a lot of supporters outside the city
It's not clear where Bowman will find the additional votes in the city to make up the huge gap from the primary.
The Enquirer attended several campaign events where many Bowman supporters hailed from the more conservative, Trump-loving suburbs outside the city or elsewhere. A recent fundraiser sponsored by the late Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA featured speakers and people from outside the city, including roofer Garey Faulkner, a competitive beard champion and roofer from Amelia in Clermont County east of Cincinnati.
At the end of September, Bowman's church hosted a town hall with GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. While city supporters attended, many were like Henry Oberson, 57, of Loveland, Ohio – a suburbanite who grew more interested in city politics after the street brawl video went viral.
While he can't vote in the city election, Oberson said he likes Bowman.
"I think the momentum is building and changed and the campaign definitely has a very legitimate shot to win," Oberson said.
What is Bowman's future?
Political experts aren't so sure.
If Bowman gets 40% of the vote, that would be a feat in an urban area, said Mariani, the Xavier political science professor. He might be able to parlay a strong showing into a congressional run, ala Wenstrup, or some other stab at higher office, Mariani said.
Bowman's chances of a better showing go up the lower the turnout, he said.
"If people don’t show up, you don’t need as many votes," Mariani said. "It’s the longest of longshots."
Who is Aftab Pureval?
Pureval, 43, a Democrat from Clifton, Ohio, is running for his second term as mayor. Before winning the mayoral race in 2021, Pureval served as Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.
He sprang onto the political scene in 2016, unseating incumbent Republican Tracey Winkler for clerk of courts. After defeating a member of a prominent Republican political family, he rode that momentum to a congressional run in 2018 in which he lost to the incumbent Republican Rep. Steve Chabot.
Since becoming mayor, he's garnered some national attention in Politico and the Los Angeles Times. He spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. While rumors have flown around the city from time to time that Pureval is running for another office, he's always denied that.
Who is Cory Bowman?
Bowman, 36, is pastor of The River Church in the West End and is a registered Republican. He also co-owns the Kings Arms Coffee, a West End coffee shop. He said he recently moved from College Hill to the West End.
But it's Bowman's family that has drawn much of the attention. His half-brother is Vice President JD Vance.
Bowman has never run for office before. He said he's considered a role in local government as a way to give back to the city. Attending Vance and President Donald Trump's inauguration in January further inspired him to run, he told The Enquirer in February.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: In Cincinnati, JD Vance's half brother hopes for a political 'earthquake' in mayor race
Reporting by Scott Wartman, USA TODAY NETWORK / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
AlterNet
FOX 5 Atlanta Crime
The Babylon Bee
The Texas Tribune
The Coloradoan
The Daily Sentinel
Associated Press Top News
FOX News Videos