The semi-brother of Vice President JD Vance, running for mayor of Cincinnati, moved forward to compete in the general election on Tuesday.
The Associated Press said candidate Cory Bowman, the Republican coffee shop owner, won a small share of the vote in Tuesday's nonpartisan primary. He came next to Aftab Pureval, the current mayor of Democrats.
They will now face each other again in November. The result was that third candidate, Brian Frank, also a Republican, was kicked out of the race.
The Cincinnati mayoral election is technically independent, but it has been decades since the city elected Republicans to its office. Vice President Kamala Harris won 77% of the city's voters last fall.
David Niven, a political professor at the University of Cincinnati, said Bowman's family connections are unlikely to change that dynamic. “You can't get that as a Trump Vance Republican in Cincinnati,” however, anywhere else in Ohio, Dr. Niven said, “He's going to be in a better shape as a candidate.”
Purebal won both primary and general elections on large margins four years ago. Until a few months ago, he seemed poised for an unopposed run during his second term. Both Republicans said the possibility of participating in races focused on local issues such as affordable housing, potholes and public safety has spurred them.
Bowman and Frank accused Purebar's administration of ignoring infrastructure repairs, rushing to new zoning plans and not clearing the streets immediately after a massive snowstormed the city in January.
Pureval said his administration has been aggressive and successful in increasing city inventory for affordable housing, investing in public safety and revitalizing downtown cities after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bowman grew up in Ohio and spent several years in Florida before moving to Cincinnati in 2020.
He didn't vote for mayor in 2021, but he said he was common in cities where local racial turnout is generally low. In the interview, all three candidates said that Bowman's family connections gave him special attention to the race. They wanted voter turnout to be higher than in the past few years.
Donald Bowman, the father of Mr. Bowman and Mr. Vance, passed away in 2023. Mr. Vance was raised by the mother's side of the family, so the half-brothers did not grow up together. But Bowman said they have clear memories of playing basketball with his half-brother, the beginning of their friendship.
Bowman attended Vance's inauguration in January and said that he was inspired by the success of the vice president, but did not consider him a political model.
“People are not looking for copy-and-paste of our city's national government,” he said. “They are looking for people who care about local issues.”
Vance did not publicly approve Bowman for the mayor as he did not respond to a request for comment. Doing so could actually hurt his brother's candidacy in a democratic city.
“We called 'good luck' and 'congratulations'. And he asked how it disappeared,” Bowman said. “But this is the race we run for Cincinnati and I think he understands that.”
