Cincinnati City Council

Cincinnati City Council
City Council
Type
Type	City Council
Houses	Unicameral
Leadership
Vice Mayor	Jan Michele Kearney, Democratic since January 4, 2022
President Pro Tempore	Victoria Parks, Democratic since January 4, 2022
Structure
Seats	Nine
Political groups	Democratic (9)
Elections
Voting system	at-large
Last election	November 7, 2023
Next election	November 4, 2025
Meeting place
Cincinnati City Hall 801 Plum St, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Website
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/council/
Constitution
Charter

The Cincinnati City Council is the lawmaking body of Cincinnati, Ohio. The nine-member city council is elected at-large in a single election in which each voter chooses nine candidates from the field. The nine top vote-getters win seats on the council for a two-year term.

Until the charter of 1925, the council comprised 32 members—six elected at-large and 26 elected from single-member wards. The 1925 charter instituted the present nine-member council elected in a single non-partisan, at-large election. From 1925 to 1955, elections were under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation. ^[1] The mayor was chosen by the council from among its members. In the 1970s, the system was changed so that the top vote-getter in the council election automatically became mayor. Since 2001, the mayor is chosen in a separate election.

Although the election officially is non-partisan, the local Charterite party and three of the major political parties (Democratic, Republican, and Green Party) all endorse candidates in the race. Party designations, however, can be fluid. After the 1997 election, for example, Democrats Minette Cooper and Dwight Tillery formed a majority coalition on the council with Republicans Charlie Winburn, Phil Heimlich, and Jeanette Cissell.

Prior to 2013, council members were elected for two-year terms. In 2013, a referendum was passed changing City Council to four-year terms. In 2018, two competing proposals were placed on the ballot to modify the structure of the City Council yet again. Issue 10 would bring back two-year terms; Issue 11 would keep four-year terms but stagger them, such that five council members would be elected in a mayoral election year, and four council members would be elected two years later. ^[2] Issue 10 passed with a larger margin of victory, and the City Council returned to two-year terms beginning with the 2021 election.

The next city council election is scheduled for November 2025.

Cincinnati City Council Members

Council Member	Party	First Elected	Other Positions	Notes
Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney	Democrat	2020 (Appointed)	Vice Mayor	Replaced Tamaya Dennard on March 11, 2020, who resigned after federal charges of bribery. [3]
Victoria Parks	Democrat	2021	President Pro Tempore
Jeff Cramerding	Democrat	2021
Mark Jeffreys	Democrat	2021
Scotty Johnson	Democrat	2021
Meeka Owens	Democrat	2021
Seth Walsh	Democrat	2022 (Appointed)		Replaced Greg Landsman on December 19, 2022, who resigned to serve OH-01 [4]
Anna Albi	Democrat	2023
Evan Nolan	Democrat	2024 (Appointed)		Replaced Reggie Harris on October 11, 2024, who resigned to serve as the deputy assistant secretary of economic development in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development [5]

Election results

Italic type indicates incumbent.
(D) indicates Democratic Party candidate.
(R) indicates Republican Party candidate.
(G) indicates Green party candidate.
(C) indicates Charter Committee candidate.
(I) indicates no party affiliation.

Year	Winning Candidates	Losing Candidates
2023	Jan-Michele Kearney (D): 49,033 Meeka D. Owens (D): 48,825 Reggie Harris (D):48,443 Victoria Parks (D): 45,490 Scotty Johnson (D): 44,899 Mark Jeffreys (D): 44,544 Anna Albi (D): 43,973 Jeff Cramerding (D): 41,983 Seth Walsh (D): 39,950	Liz Keating (C, R): 36,176
2021	Jan-Michele Kearney (D): 28,161 Greg Landsman (D): 26,532 Reggie Harris (D):25,305 Meeka Owens (D): 24,177 Victoria Parks (D): 22,443 Scotty Johnson (D): 19,888 Jeff Cramerding (D): 19,356 Mark Jeffreys (D): 18,433 Liz Keating (C, R): 17,156	Michelle Dillingham (I): 15,618 Philip O'Neal (D): 14,995 Kevin Flynn (C): 13,665 Betsy Sundermann (R): 13,599 Steve Goodin (C, R): 12,594 Jim Tarbell (C): 11,526 Brian Garry (I): 10,066 Thomas Brinkman (R): 9,642 John Williams (C): 8,200 LaKeisha Cook (I): 7,021 Jackie Frondorf (C): 6,815 Jaime Castle (I): 6,266 Peterson Mingo (I): 5,163 Evan Holt (DSA): 5,013 Kurt Grossman (I): 4,876 Bill Frost (C): 4,614 Galen Gordon (C): 4,107 Stacy Smith (I): 4,007 Te'Airea Powell (I): 3,988 Jalen Alford (I): 3,066 Rob Harris II (I):2,587 Andrew Kennedy (I):2,393 John Maher (I): 2,117 Logan Simmering (G): 1,608 K.A. Heard Jr (G):1,461 Nick Jabin (I): 1,319
2017	P.G. Sittenfeld (D): 39,815 David Mann (C, D): 35,789 Chris Seelbach (D): 30,626 Wendell Young (D): 28,295 Christopher Smitherman (I): 27,149 Tamaya Dennard (C, D): 26,053 Greg Landsman (D): 25,049 Amy Murray (C, R): 23,888 Jeff Pastor (R): 21,996	Michelle Dillingham (D): 21,773 Ozie Davis (D): 18,671 Lesley Jones (D): 18,345 Laure Quinlivan (I): 16,758 Derek Bauman (C): 16,680 Henry Frondorf (C): 10,637 Seth Maney (R): 10,114 Brian Garry (G): 9,152 Kelli Prather (I): 7,175 Tamie Sullivan (G): 6,232 Tonya Dumas (I): 6,186 Erica L. Black-Johnson (I): 5,539 Cristina Burcica (I): 4,150 Manuel Foggie (I): 3,556 Dadrien Washington (I): 125
2013	P.G. Sittenfeld (D): 37,484 Charlie Winburn (R): 27,397 David Mann (C, D): 26,443 Yvette Simpson (C, D): 25,449 Chris Seelbach (D): 23,738 Christopher Smitherman (I): 23,604 Wendell Young (D): 22,600 Kevin Flynn (C): 22,059 Amy Murray (C, R): 21,979	Laure Quinlivan (D): 21,079 Greg Landsman (C, D): 19,619 Michelle Dillingham (D): 19,143 Pam Thomas (D): 18,499 Vanessa White (C): 16,892 Sam Malone (R): 16,462 Mellisa Wegman (R): 9,942 Shawn Butler (D): 9,788 Mike Moroski (I): 8,688 Angela Beamon (I): 7,943 Kevin Johnson (I): 6,647 Timothy Joseph Dorsbrusch (I): 4,006
2011	Roxanne Qualls (C, D): 38,903 P.G. Sittenfeld (D): 31,673 Wendell Young (D): 30,526 Cecil Thomas (D): 30,405 Charlie Winburn (R): 30,080 Laure Quinlivan (D): 28,601 Yvette Simpson (C, D): 28,589 Christopher Smitherman (I): 24,981 Chris Seelbach (D): 24,494	Chris Bortz (C): 22,805 Kevin Flynn (C): 22,631 Amy Murray (R): 22,096 Leslie Ghiz (R): 21,391 Jason Riveiro (D): 19,025 Wayne Lippert (R): 18,973 Mike Allen (I): 17,167 Nicholas Hollan (D): 15,309 Catherine Smith Mills (R): 13,913 Pat McCollum (I): 6,497 Kathy Atkinson (I): 5,220 Jacqueline Allen (I): 4,829 Sandra Queen Noble (I): 2,890 Orlando Welborn (I): 34
2009	Roxanne Qualls (C, D): [6] 43,513 Cecil Thomas (D): 35,690 Chris Bortz (C): 32,911 Jeff Berding (I): [7] 30,509 Leslie Ghiz (R): 30,050 Chris Monzel (R): 29,786 Charlie Winburn (R): 29,055 Y. Laketa Cole (D): 28,976 Laure Quinlivan (D): 28,775	Greg Harris (D): [8] 25,216 Bernadette Watson (D): 24,985 Amy Murray (R): 23,667 Kevin Flynn (C): 23,619 Wendell Young (D): 22,100 Tony Fischer (D): 21,742 Nicholas Hollan (D): 18,096 George Zamary (R): 12,834 Anitra Brockman (G): 8,071 LaMarque Ward (I): 7,806
2007	Roxanne Qualls (C): [9] 33,775 John Cranley (D): 33,772 David Crowley (D): 31,124 Cecil Thomas (D): 27,103 Chris Bortz (C): 26,500 Leslie Ghiz (R): 24,920 Y. Laketa Cole (D): 24,900 Jeff Berding (D): 23,586 Chris Monzel (R): 23,336	Charlie Winburn (R): 22,080 Minette Cooper (D): 18,941 Sam Malone (R): 17,486 Melanie Bates (C): 15,376 Pat Fischer (R): 15,084 Greg Harris (D): 14,184 John Eby (R): 14,025 Wendell Young (D): 13,963 Brian Garry (D): 13,164 Joan Kaup (C): 8,476 Andre Harper (R): 7,499 Justin Jeffre (G): 7,371 Mitch Painter (I): 5,140 Steve Pavelish (I): 4,213 Michael Earl Patton (I): 3,149 George Zamary (I): 2,203
2005	John Cranley (D): 35,603 James R. Tarbell (C): 32,392 Y. Laketa Cole (D): 29,966 David Crowley (D): 29,856 Leslie Ghiz (R): 29,758 Jeff Berding (D): 28,344 Chris Monzel (R): [10] 27,911 Chris Bortz (C): 27,304 Cecil Thomas (D): 27,091	Sam Malone (R): 25,838 Christopher Smitherman (C/G): 24,642 Damon Lynch III (D): 22,556 Wendell Young (D): 21,505 Eve Bolton (D): 19,729 John Eby (R): 16,272 Samantha Herd (D): 14,306 Nick Spencer (C): 9,462 Paul Mcghee (I): 5,407 Gerry Kraus (I): 4,719 William S. "Stew" Mathews II (I): 3,915 Robert J. Wilking (I): 3,762 Ishaq Nadir (I): 3,208 Eric Wilson (I): 3,082 Michael Earl Patton (I): 2,770 Curtis Wells (I): 2,482 Robert Wilson (I): 2,319 Ronnie T. Stallworth (I): 2,271 Bill Barron (I): 1,849 Bennie Green (I): 1,800 Victor Phillips (I): 1,695 Antonio Hodge (I): 1,276
2003	David Pepper (D): 34,405 Alicia Reece (D): 32,078 Y. Laketa Cole (D): [11] 27,644 James R. Tarbell (C): 27,480 John Cranley (D): 26,980 R. Patrick DeWine (R): 26,573 Christopher Smitherman (C, G): 25,483 Sam Malone (R): 24,002 David Crowley (D): 22,713	Damon Lynch III (I): 21,764 Leslie Ghiz (R): 19,916 Chris Monzel (R): 19,197 Barbara W. Trauth (I): 17,480 John Connelly (I): 14,047 Pete Witte (I): 13,479 Terry Deters (I): 11,889 John F. Schlagetter (C): 11,420 Tom Jones (I): 10,441 Samuel T. Britton (I): 9,778 Howard H. Bond (I): 8,260 Nick Spencer (C): 7,378 Marilyn Hyland (I): 5,864 Brian Garry (G): 5,504 Eric Wilson (I): 2,686 Glenn O. Givens Sr. (I): 2,327 Larry J. Frazier (I): 2,323
2001	David Pepper (D): 45,174 R. Patrick DeWine (R): 43,191 Alicia Reece (D): 43,180 Minette Cooper (D): 38,040 John Cranley (D): [12] 36,998 James R. Tarbell (C): 35,533 David Crowley: (D): 33,225 Paul Booth (D): 27,732 Chris Monzel (R): [13] 26,479	Y. Laketa Cole (D): 24,567 Todd Ward (R): 23,895 Sam Malone (R): 23,211 Jane Anderson (I): 21,026 Akiva Freeman (I): 19,788 Dawn Denno (I): 19,598 Lawra Baumann (I): 17,686 Ken Anderson (I): 15,119 Clarence D. Williams III (I): 14,371 Nathaniel Livingston Jr. (I): 12,735 Tom Jones (I): 12,235 John F. Schlagetter (C): 10,269 William Kirkland (I): 6,211 Theo Barnes (I): 4,795 Eric Wilson (I): 4,376 Wes Flinn (I): 3,682 Toni Andrews (I): 3,651
1999	Mayor: Charles J. Luken (D): 42,022 Todd Portune (D): 36,333 Charlie Winburn (R): 34,176 Phil Heimlich (R): 31,487 Alicia Reece (D): 27,900 R. Patrick DeWine (R): 27,745 James R. Tarbell (C): [14] 26,045 Minette Cooper (D): 25,277 Paul Booth (D): 22,667	Jeanette Cissell (R): 22,095 Diane Goldsmith (R): 21,250 Scott V. Seidewitz (D): 20,389 Kaye M. Britton (D): 19,300 Forrest L. Buckley (D): 19,248 Jane Anderson (I): 17,297 Ken Anderson (I): 15,433 Chris Monzel (R): 9,335 Sam Malone (I): 5,030 Theo Barnes (I): 4,885 Charlie Lee Gardner (I): 3,312
1997	Mayor: Roxanne Qualls (D): 50,560 Dwight Tillery (D): 45,238 Todd Portune (D): 42,721 Charlie Winburn (R): 39,913 Bobbie L. Sterne (C): 39,529 Phil Heimlich (R): 37,896 Tyrone Yates (D): 35,592 Minette Cooper (D): 35,451 Jeanette Cissell (R): [15] 34,209	James R. Tarbell (C): 33,867 Forrest Buckley (D): 25,357 Diane Goldsmith (R): 22,676 Kaye Britton (D): 20,724 Rosemary Meyer (R): 18,976 Todd Ward (R): 18,438 Bryn Lewis (C): 10,135 William Gaz (R): 9,213 Theo Barnes (I): 6,051
1995	Mayor: Roxanne Qualls (D): 49,165 Phil Heimlich (R): 48,072 Dwight Tillery (D): 45,616 Bobbie L. Sterne (C): 40,663 Nick Vehr (R): 40,207 Minette Cooper (D): 40,105 Charlie Winburn (R): 38,963 Todd Portune (D): 36,308 Tyrone Yates (D): 33,644	Jeannette Cissell (R): 31,960 Mark Longabaugh (D): 30,969 John Kruse (R): 28,098 John Mirlisena (D): 27,379 Diane Goldsmith (R): 26,627 Norman Murdock (R): 24,369 Don Driehaus (D): 22,961 Elwood Cromwell III (R): 9,109 John Henry Simmons (I): 4,354
1993	Mayor: Roxanne Qualls (D): 48,476 Dwight Tillery (D): 45,928 Nick Vehr (R): 45,494 Bobbie L. Sterne (C): 43,077 Thomas A. Luken (D): 39,771 Charlie Winburn (R): 39,670 Tyrone Yates (D): 36,204 Todd Portune (D): 34,460 Phil Heimlich (R): 33,873	John Mirlisena (D): 32,915 Virginia Rhodes (D): 29,327 Jeannette Cissell (R): 27,504 Martin Wade (R): 26,224 Anne Power (R): 25,232 John Kruse (R): 24,713 Nell D. Surber (R): 23,714 Eric Kearney (C): 23,138 Val Sena (C): 18,131 Matthew Rosen (D): 15,851 Barbara Milton (D): 14,078 Pat Clifford (I): 7,759
1991	Mayor: Dwight Tillery (D): 52,020 Guy Guckenberger (I): 49,793 David S. Mann (D): 48,595 John Mirlisena (D): 47,655 Peter J. Strauss (D): 45,577 James Cissell (R): 42,467 Bobbie L. Sterne (C): 40,697 Roxanne Qualls (D): 38,543 Tyrone Yates (C): 36,548	Nick Vehr (R): 33,277 Virginia Rhodes (D): 32,240 Nell D. Surber (R): 27,281 William Al'Uqdah (R): 21,846 Martin Wade (R): 19,993 Shirley Rosser (D): 18,189 Jay Andress (R): 16,807 Mary Ann Brown (R): 15,290 Val Sena (C): 14,886 Len Garrett (R): 12,365 Richard L. Buchanan (D): 11,655 Chaunston Brown (D): 10,461 Todd O'Neal (I): 9,684 John Cheng (I): 6,866 Claudia Miller (I): 6,337 Anita F. Bolce (I): 6,712 Dennis L. Maxberry (I): 3,336

Notes

1. Barber, Kathleen. Proportional Representation and Election Reform in Ohio. Ohio State University Press, 1995.
2. Wetterich, Chris (5 November 2018). "Cincinnati voters beware of Issues 10 and 11". American City Business Journals. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
3. "Kearney Joins Cincinnati City Council". 18 March 2020.
4. "Seth Walsh will replace Greg Landsman on Cincinnati Council". 9 December 2022.
5. "Why Meeka Owens named lawyer Evan Nolan to Cincinnati City Council". 11 October 2024.
6. Qualls was endorsed by the Charter Committee and the Democratic Party. Qualls' clout grows; options abound
7. The Democratic Party withdrew its endorsement of Berding. Mallory more focused on 9 Archived 2009-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
8. After John Cranley stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Harris was sworn in as his replacement on January 12, 2009.
9. After James R. Tarbell stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Qualls was sworn in as his replacement on September 4, 2007.
10. After R. Patrick DeWine stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Monzel was sworn in as his replacement on January 14, 2005.
11. After Paul Booth stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Cole was sworn in as his replacement on April 23, 2003.
12. After Todd Portune stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Cranley was sworn in as his replacement in December, 2000.
13. After Phil Heimlich stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Monzel was sworn in as his replacement in February 2001.
14. After Bobbie Sterne stepped down from her seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Tarbell was sworn in as her replacement in 1998.
15. After Nick Vehr stepped down from his seat on the Cincinnati City Council, Cissell was sworn in as his replacement in 1996.

External links

• Cincinnati City Council
• SmartVoter.org – Current & historical election information to 1998 for Hamilton County, OH presented by the League of Women Voters
• Hamilton County, OH Board of Elections Current & historical election information
• City of Cincinnati – Elections Commission Political Contribution Data
• Cincinnati Municipal Code ^{[ permanent dead link ]}