​Republicans Have Conceded the 2017 Cincinnati Council Race

Throwing in the towel when you announce your endorsed candidates for Cincinnati Council seems like a shooting-yourself-in-the-foot move, but that is ​exactly what the Hamilton County Republican Party did when they officially announced their slate of THREE candidates for Cincinnati City Council this past week.

Yes, you read that correctly, THREE.

To make sure you are thinking correctly, yes there are Nine seats on council, and Five seats are needed for a basic majority to pass any ordinances. Six seats are needed for a veto proof majority from the Mayor.  Even if closeted Republican Chris Smitherman wins, that still leaves them short from the start. For those grasping at straws, a coalition Council with Charter Committee endorsed candidates is a pipe dream, with all but one of their endorsements being solid Democrats/Progressives.

So, the GOP has conceded the 2017 Cincinnati Council Race.

Three candidates is the lowest number of endorsed candidates for the Republicans in decades, if not in the history of the party.

If you need any additional evidence of the GOP giving up on the city, I don't know what you could get.

The person who should be most worried about this slate of candidates is John Cranley. The only way Cranley can win the Mayor's race is by getting nearly all of the Republican votes in the city. He not only has to win their vote, he needs to get them to come out and vote. They didn't do that as well in the primary this year as they did four years ago. If the GOP in Mt. Washington, Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout and Westside don't vote in strong numbers and vote for Cranley, he has no chance to win.

So, without any chance of gaining the majority seats of the law making body of the city, with the real power to make policy, what will motivate a City Republican to vote this November?

June Update to the 2017 City of Cincinnati Council Candidates

The update this month brings one new candidate and some new endorsements from the Green Party of Southwest Ohio.  The Green Party locally is pretty flaky (or down right nuts) and their support for Smitherman shows they don't know what they are doing. The GOP finally put out their endorsements and have three and no Smitherman! My "Smither-man, Republi-can" T-Shirts are still on back order.


Lock
P.G. Sittenfeld* (D endorsed)

Likely
David Mann* (D,C endorsed)
Chris Seelbach* (D endorsed)
Wendell Young* (D endorsed)

In the Mix:
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Greg Landsman (D endorsed)
Michelle Dillingham (D endorsed)
Leslie Jones (D endorsed)
Ozie Davis III (D endorsed)
Tamaya Dennard (D,C endorsed)
Jeff Pastor (R endorsed)
Derek Bauman (C endorsed) (D)
Christopher Smitherman* (R but pretending to be I and for some reason G endorsed)
Amy Murray* (R,C endorsed)

Outside Chance
Tonya Dumas (D)
Henry Frondorf (C endorsed) (D)
Manuel Foggie
Beverly Odoms (D)
Matt Teaford (I)
Tamie Sullivan (R)
Seth Maney (R endorsed)

Also Ran
Theo Barnes
Orlando Welborn (D)
Dawud Mustafa
Brian Garry (D)
Kelli Prather (D)
Cristina Burcica (D)
Michael Rachford
Kit Earls (G endorsed)
Mary Hall
Damon Lynch IV
Edith Thrower

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


If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. Also, since I have added a party affiliation, if there are changes, let me know.

Key
* = Incumbent
D= Democratic Party
R= Republican Party
C= Charter Committee (aka Charter Party)
G= Green Party
I= Independent

May Update to the 2017 City of Cincinnati Council Candidates

This month Charter Party announced it's 5 endorsements for City Council.  Still no official word from the Hamilton County Republican Party.  At this point, they only have three announced candidates that likely will get an endorsement.  It seems like most Republicans think they will have a chance in Hell of winning, so I wonder if the Hamilton County GOP will just not bother.  They are actively working to hurt cities all over the country, so not endorsing candidates wouldn't be a shock.

Next month I will work new groupings of the candidates, based on their chances of getting elected.  Also several of the reported candidates below have nearly nothing to publicize their campaign, so unless they get on the ballot, they may find their own category until they actually get on the ballot, which we won't know until the end of August.


Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld (D endorsed)
David Mann (D,C endorsed)
Chris Seelbach (D endorsed)
Christopher Smitherman (R but pretending to be I)
Wendell Young (D endorsed))
Amy Murray (C endorsed) (R)

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Greg Landsman (D endorsed)
Michelle Dillingham (D endorsed)
Brian Garry (D)
Theo Barnes
Orlando Welborn (D)

New Candidates
Ozie Davis III (D endorsed)
Kelli Prather (D)
Tamaya Dennard (D,C endorsed)
Cristina Burcica (D)
Jeff Pastor (R)
Derek Bauman (C endorsed) (D)
Tonya Dumas (D)
Henry Frondorf (C endorsed) (D)
Manuel Foggie
Leslie Jones (D endorsed)
Beverly Odoms (D)
Dawud Mustafa
Mary Hall
Damon Lynch IV
Edith Thrower
Matt Teaford (I)
Michael Rachford
Tamie Sullivan (R)

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


If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. Also, since I have added a party affiliation, if there are changes, let me know.

April Update to the 2017 City of Cincinnati Council Candidates

This month we didn't have anyone new announce and I've not heard of anyone dropping out, but we did get the Democratic endorsements announced with mostly the expected candidates getting the nod.  Leslie Jones was a surprise, as a first time candidate, but still got the backing of the local party.  The GOP still only has two announced candidates and I've not see a formal endorsement announcement, but have heard support from local party officials.  With the Mayoral Primary coming up next week, more attention will fall on the council race and if there will be any GOP or Charter candidates endorsement announcements.  At this rate, there is not even enough conservative candidates running to block a veto proof majority for the Democratic Party, so will anyone else step up?

Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld (D endorsed)
David Mann (D endorsed)
Chris Seelbach (D endorsed)
Christopher Smitherman (R but pretending to be I)
Wendell Young (D endorsed))
Amy Murray (R)

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Greg Landsman (D endorsed)
Michelle Dillingham (D endorsed)
Brian Garry (D)
Theo Barnes
Orlando Welborn (D)

New Candidates
Ozie Davis III (D endorsed)
Kelli Prather (D)
Tamaya Dennard (D endorsed)
Cristina Burcica (D)
Jeff Pastor (R)
Derek Bauman (D)
Tonya Dumas (D)
Henry Frondorf (D)
Manuel Foggie
Leslie Jones (D endorsed)
Beverly Odoms (D)
Dawud Mustafa
Mary Hall
Damon Lynch IV
Edith Thrower
Matt Teaford (I)
Michael Rachford
Tamie Sullivan (R)

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


If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. Also, since I have added a party affiliation, if there are changes, let me know.

Anyone Want to Bet on Who the Enquirer Endorses in the Mayoral Primary?

You will find out today live on Facebook because I guess print is dead.

Who wants to bet with me? I'll bet a case of beer on who I think they will pick.

More Attacks on Dwight Tillery - From Cranley?

It is not clear why this massive attack article was dug up to hurt Dwight Tillery. My only theory is that the John Cranley campaign is trying to discredit Tillery and thus try and hurt anything he may say, like who he would support for Mayor against Cranley.  That might have a small affect on the primary or general election, but only if Tillery is seen as an influencer, primarily within the African-American community.

If anything, this gives Tillery yet another reason to want to punch back at Cranley. This article is too complicated to affect the average voter (and is behind a pay-wall), so it's impact is more within political circles (within the city political beltway). It feels more like punishment on Tillery for opposing Cranley.  No one gains from this, but a scorched earth fight by Cranley is going to make any political efforts in his future difficult, unless he is trying to court GOP voters, beyond his need for them to win this year.

Die Innenstadt hat einen langen Schnurrbart

I joined an organization this year. It's not a secret group.  It's a very open group. There are few limits to joining the organization, other than $20.  You get a scarf.  You don't have to actually do anything once you join.  The group's purpose is to support FC Cincinnati.  If you like soccer and like Cincinnati, especially OTR/Downtown, then consider joining and watching some local sports.