Aftab Pureval to face JD Vance’s half brother in Cincinnati mayoral race

Cincinnati’s first Asian American mayor and Cory Bowman were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s nonpartisan primary

By Arun Kumar

Cincinnati’s Indian American Mayor Aftab Pureval will face Cory Bowman, the half brother of Vice President JD Vance, for city mayor in November election with the two finishing at the top in Tuesday’s primary.

Pureval, 42,  placed a dominant first in the nonpartisan three-way contest, in which third-place finisher Republican Brian Frank was eliminated. Under the rules of the southwest Ohio city’s nonpartisan primaries, only the top two primary finishers advance to the general election.

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With 100% of precincts reporting, incumbent Democrat Pureval won the most votes Tuesday with 82.53% (18,505 votes). Republican Cory Bowman came a distant second with just over 12.91% (2,894 votes). Frank came third with 4.56% (1,022 votes).

In a statement, Pureval said the city deserves a “substantive and healthy debate of ideas about the future of our city” headed into the fall.

“There is work ahead of us in Cincinnati, but I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past few years,” he said. “We have made meaningful, tangible progress for folks across our community, and this is a moment to keep building on the momentum we’ve worked so hard to create.”

Son of an Indian father and a Tibetan refugee mother, Pureval is running for his second term as mayor after easily winning his first term in 2021 with nearly 66% of the vote to make history as the first Asian American to lead Ohio’s third-largest city.

A former special assistant U.S. attorney, congressional candidate and Hamilton County clerk of courts, he says the major concerns of constituents have not changed much over the last three-and-a-half years.

“They continue to be public safety, and that is by far the single issue that we hear the most in City Hall,” Pureval said Tuesday. “But of course, housing continues to be a challenge. With the uncertainty in the national economy, people are worried about our local economy, about the jobs that we’re able to create, and about continuing to grow our population. They’re concerned about pedestrian safety; they’re concerned about litter.”

Pureval says when he entered office in 2022, it was to “several crises” of political corruption, a housing shortage, and the ongoing global pandemic. He says the city has made significant progress since then.

“Cincinnati is on the right track — we are really at the precipice of extraordinary growth,” Pureval said. “Now is the time to continue that consistency and give us another opportunity to try and put points up on the board for the next four years.”

Bowman is running his first ever campaign, and is the first Republican (along with Frank) to run in a mayoral election in 16 years. He’s 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.

Bowman says he decided to run for mayor on his way home after the inauguration of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, Bowman’s older half-brother.

Vance was quiet about the local election until Tuesday afternoon, when he posted his endorsement of Bowman to X : “Hey Cincinnati! My brother Cory Bowman is running for mayor and is on the ballot today for the primary. He’s a good guy with a heart for serving his community. Get out there and vote for him!”

Bowman faces a significant uphill battle in the strongly Democratic city. All nine City Council seats also will be on the ballot in November. Although those races are also non-partisan, all nine candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party won seats in 2023, the most recent election.