It鈥檚 been 16 years since a Republican has run in a Cincinnati mayoral election.
That鈥檚 the best indicator of just how Democratic blue this city is and will continue to be one-fourth of the way into the 21st century.
Even so, two Cincinnati Republicans will be on the ballot in the May 6 primary election.
Neither of them has ever run for public office before; neither of them have anything near the name recognition and political juice of the incumbent mayor, Aftab Pureval, who is the third candidate on the May 6 ballot.
Both of the GOP candidates say they are doing it for the same reason: to give Cincinnatians a choice.
They are:
- Cory Bowman, the 36-year-old half brother of Vice President JD Vance. He鈥檚 a College Hill resident and the pastor of a church in the West End, as well as the co-owner of a coffee shop in that area.
- Brian Frank, a 66-year-old former Procter & Gamble employee whose campaign slogan is the Trump-ish 鈥淢ake Cincinnati Great Again.鈥�
If there were only one of them who filed petitions to run by the Feb. 20 deadline, this primary contest would not be necessary.
Under the system of electing a mayor that has been in place since 2001, a primary election takes place when there are more than two candidates who qualify for the ballot.
If there were only two candidates, Cincinnati could skip the May primary and the two mayoral candidates would go head-to-head in the November general election for a four-year term as mayor.
Both Bowman and Frank say they want Cincinnati voters to have a choice.
Well, now they have two choices not named Aftab Pureval.
About Brian Frank
Frank鈥檚 campaign has already raised cane because of his statement to the Cincinnati Business Courier that City Manager Sheryl Long 鈥� an African American woman 鈥� is a 鈥淒EI hire,鈥� and therefore not qualified for the position.
Long was a city administrator in North College Hill and an assistant Cincinnati city manager before being named to the role in 2022.
Pureval fired back, telling the Business Courier that Frank鈥檚 statement about Long amounted to 鈥淢AGA talking points and dog whistle racism.鈥�
Cincinnati voters, Pureval said, 鈥渨ill flatly reject this kind of hate and nonsense.鈥�
Speaking to me this week, Frank gave a rather unorthodox explanation of DEI, which 鈥� if you don't know 鈥� stands for 鈥渄iversity, equity, and inclusion.鈥�
鈥淭he 鈥楧鈥� and 鈥楨鈥� part 鈥� I鈥檓 fine with that,鈥欌�� Frank said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the 鈥業鈥� I have a problem with.鈥�
And with that he made this pronouncement about Sheryl Long:
鈥淚鈥檓 far more qualified to be city manager than she is,鈥欌�� Frank said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e setting her up for failure.鈥�
Frank has a few Trump-like ideas for the city, such as privatizing the city鈥檚 health clinics.
And he wants the city to build a tram from his home neighborhood of Mt. Adams to the Hard Rock Casino.
He says he is not a MAGA Republican, despite voting for Trump in the last three presidential elections.
鈥淚 can work across the aisle with anybody,鈥� Frank said.
鈥淭here are some good things that Trump is doing,鈥� Frank said. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 embrace all of it.鈥�
About Cory Bowman
Like Frank, Bowman has no experience as an elected official or even as a candidate, but he has clearly been inspired by the experience of his older half-brother.
He and his wife were invited guests at the swearing-in of Trump and Vance in January.
鈥淎s I was flying back here from the inauguration, it occurred to me that I could do something to serve the community,鈥� Bowman said.
After that, he went to the Board of Elections and pulled petitions to run for mayor.
鈥淚鈥檓 not doing this to become an expert at running a campaign,鈥欌�� Bowman said. 鈥淚 want to be an expert at running a city.鈥�
Bowman and the vice president share the same father, but different mothers. As a kid, his older brother spent a lot of time on the Bowman farm in Preble County.
鈥淢y big brother has been a great role model for me,鈥欌�� Bowman said of the vice president. 鈥淲e have a friendly sibling rivalry going.鈥�
He and his wife have lived in Cincinnati since 2020 after spending nine years in Tampa, where he went to Bible college and became part of the River Church.
Now, he is pastor of the River Church in the West End and is co-owner of the Kings Arms Coffee Shop near the church.
鈥淭he conversations I have with people about my running for mayor don鈥檛 start out with, 鈥楢re you red or blue?鈥欌�� 鈥� Bowman said. 鈥淭hey want to know what I could do for the city, to make it a better place.
鈥淚f you want to debate policy towards Ukraine with me, I鈥檓 going to say I want to fix the potholes here first,鈥� Bowman said.
He is running, Bowman said, 鈥渂ecause people deserve a choice.鈥�
Well, on May 6, they will have three choices.
It's possible voters in November could end up with two Republican candidates on the ballot. Unlikely, but possible.
Party affiliations will not be on the primary ballot. But this will be a pretty low turnout election; and usually, that means the vast majority of voters will know the candidates and what they stand for.
And the one thing neither Frank nor Bowman can change is that Cincinnati is a city with an all-Democratic City Council and a city where 77% of the electorate voted for Kamala Harris last fall.
All of that leaves about one-fourth of the voters for the two Republicans to divide up.
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