September City Council Candidates Update

We are over 13 months away from the next City Election, so I think it's time to update the listing of Council Candidates. As you will see, things have changed quite a bit since my last update 6 months ago.

We have a shit ton of candidates at this stage that are considered "Announced."  I say they are announced with a massive salt lick to go with that determination.  You see, the Cincinnati Enquirer ran a story and a follow up story providing a listing of candidates who they deemed have "Announced" their candidacy for Cincinnati City Council. They had a short bio with a few indicative data points about each candidate along with a picture for most. Not a bad couple of stories.  The only problem is that they didn't indicate how any of the candidates made an announcement. A large contingent of the announced candidate haven't even created a Facebook page for their campaign.  That is free to anyone, but some haven't done that, even after they provided information to a reporter working on a story that was going to get them more press than they will get again..  Getting off to a non-start is not a good way to announce your candidacy.

I have included everyone the Enquirer listed on my list.  Most were ones I already had, but they have included several that were new to me and had no online presence I could find. For this update I have not segmented any type of analysis as to whom may have more of a viable candidacy than other candidates, except that I grouped the incumbents and announced candidates separate from the might run prior candidates or the still couple of rumored candidates that were out there. 

There won't be must churn on this list until next year when fundraising and signature gathering starts in earnest.

Incumbents
Greg Landsman (D)
Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney (D)
Jeff Pastor (R)
Betsy Sundermann (R)

Announced Candidates
Jalen Alford (I?)
Derek Bauman (D,C)
Derrick Blassingame (R)
Michael Cappel (D)
Britton Carter (D)
Jeff Cramerding (D)
Michelle Dillingham (D)
Ryan DuPree (D)
Christine Fisher (D)
Manuel Foggie (D)
Bill Frost (C)
Brian Garry (D)
Cam Hardy (D,C)
Reggie Harris (D)
Evan Holt (I)
Dani Isaacsohn (D)
James Jenkins (I)
Scotty Johnson (D)
Liz Keating (R)
Rayshon Mack (R)
Dale Mallory (D)
Linda Matthews (R)
Meeka Owens (D)
Dadrien Washington (D)
McKinzie Wright (I)

Prior Candidates Who Might Run
Henry Frondorf (I?)
Seth Maney (R)
Kelli Prather (I)
Laure Quinlivan (D)

Rumored Or Speculated Candidates
Steve Goodin (R)
Matt Woods (C)

Candidate Twitter List: I have created a list of candidates on Twitter. Here is the actual list Twitter handles for the candidates.

As always:  If anyone has any other names please send them my way (editor@cincyblog.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. If there are other social media or full websites I don't list, send them along as well.

Key
* = Incumbent
‡ = On Ballot (signatures turned in)
D= Democratic Party
R= Republican Party
C= Charter Committee (aka Charter Party)
G= Green Party
I= Independent
?= I am speculating based on my reading of the information and observations available to me.

March 2020 Cincinnati City Council Candidates Update

Well, a little shake up on City Council that no one expected over the last month.  Republicans "selected" someone for Amy Murray's seat and a member of council, Tamaya Dennard, resigned after being charged with bribery, but has now been replaced.  All the while a primary election was cancelled due to COVID-19.

So, nothing much to worry about.  The delay in the primary puts off any campaigning and fundraising and really little else is going on outside of how self consciously one is about drinking alone while physical/socially distancing,

I don't know if other candidates are going to use this time home to develop campaign strategy, but that may be the only thing possible for City Politics.

Incumbents Eligible to Run
Greg Landsman (D)*
Jeff Pastor (R)*
Betsy Sundermann (R)*
Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney (D)*

Announced Candidates
Jeff Cramerding (D)
Michelle Dillingham (D)
James Jenkins (I)
Brian Garry (D)
Jalen Alford (D?)
Bill Frost (C)

Prior Candidates Likely to Run
Derek Bauman (D,C)
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Henry Frondorf (D,C)
Seth Maney (R)
Kelli Prather (D)

Prior Candidates Who Might Run
Ozie Davis III (D)
Cristina Burcica (I)
Manuel Foggie (I?)
Tamie Sullivan (R,I ?)
Leslie Jones (D)
Tonya Dumas (D)
Erica Black-Johnson (I)

Rumored Or Speculated Candidates
Cam Hardy (D,C,I ?)
Matt Woods (C)
Dadrien Washington (D)
Derrick D. Blassingame (R)
Liz Keating (R)
Steve Goodin (R)

Candidate Twitter List: I have created a list of candidates on Twitter. Here is the actual list Twitter handles for the candidates.

As always:  If anyone has any other names please send them my way (editor@cincyblog.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. If there are other social media or full websites I don't list, send them along as well.

Key
* = Incumbent
‡ = On Ballot (signatures turned in)
D= Democratic Party
R= Republican Party
C= Charter Committee (aka Charter Party)
G= Green Party
I= Independent
?= I am speculating based on my reading of the information and observations available to me.

Cincinnati City Council Candidates Update

Early in 2020 there are not big changes to the number of candidates officially running, but Republicans are falling all over themselves to get an appointment to City Council. Most would be consider it a big advantage running for council as an incumbent.  Many of theses Republicans seem to forget that they face long odds at getting elected to office as a Republican in the City of Cincinnati, even as an incumbent.  I have included in my list below those who put in an application with the Republican Party to fill Amy Murray's seat.  Murray announced recently she was soon leaving City Council to take a Trump political appointment in the Defense Department.  Murray is drinking the Kool-Aide to further her political career in a party that has gone off the deep end into neo-fascism.  Good luck with that, Amy.

I would estimate that at least 75% of the Republicans looking to fill Murray's seat have no intention of running for Council in 2021 WITHOUT being an incumbent.  The Republicans only candidate that has won with room to spare recently has been Chris Smitherman and he got that by pretending to Not be a Republican.  Murray and Pastor were the 8th and 9th place winners, by the skin of their teeth in 2017.  This will be the only time I list out those Republicans, unless they are serious about running for council. The pick for Murray's seat should be done within about a month, so, at that point, those other candidates running might declare.

The rest of candidates of all parties considering a run still have more time to organize.  Here's this latest update:

Incumbents Eligible to Run
Tamaya Dennard (D,C) *
Greg Landsman (D) *
Jeff Pastor (R) *

Announced Candidates
Jeff Cramerding (D)
Michelle Dillingham (D)
James Jenkins (I)
Brian Garry (D)
Jalen Alford (D?)

Prior Candidates Likely to Run
Derek Bauman (D,C)
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Henry Frondorf (D,C)
Seth Maney (R)
Kelli Prather (D)

Prior Candidates Who Might Run
Ozie Davis III (D)
Cristina Burcica (I)
Manuel Foggie (I?)
Tamie Sullivan (R,I ?)
Leslie Jones (D)
Tonya Dumas (D)
Erica Black-Johnson (I)

Rumored Or Speculated Candidates
Cam Hardy (D,C,I ?)
Matt Woods (C)
Dadrien Washington (D)
Derrick D. Blassingame (R)

Other Republicans Who Wanted to be Appointed to Murray's Seat These individuals want to be on council, based on seeking the open seat, but they have not indicated yet that they are running for office without being an appointed incumbent.
Tommy Price (R)
Jacob Samad (C,R)
Devoe Sherman (R)
Betsy Sundermann (R)
Liz Keating (R)
Gary Lee (R)
Rayshon Mack (R)
Linda Matthews (R)
Steve Megerle (R)
Heather Couch (R)
Jacqueline Ennis (R)
Gary Favors (R)
Garrett Gerard (R)
William Glines (R)
Steve Goodin (R)
Scott Harper (R)

Candidate Twitter List: I have created a list of candidates on Twitter. Here is the actual list Twitter handles for the candidates.

As always:  If anyone has any other names please send them my way (editor@cincyblog.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. If there are other social media or full websites I don't list, send them along as well.

Key
* = Incumbent
‡ = On Ballot (signatures turned in)
D= Democratic Party
R= Republican Party
C= Charter Committee (aka Charter Party)
G= Green Party
I= Independent