Photographs courtesy (Bowman) Sam Greene / The Enquirer / USAToday Network Via Imagn Images / (Pureval) Kareem Elgazzar / The Enquirer / USAToday Network // Collage by Olga Khaletskaya
Cincinnati’s recent mayoral election grabbed the national spotlight, and it’s no question why: Republican Cory Bowman, 37, half-brother of JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, challenged incumbent Democrat Aftab Pureval in the nonpartisan race.
On paper, Bowman ticked many boxes—a young entrepreneur, pastor, and business owner from College Hill, a family man with potentially significant ties to players in the federal government through his relation to the VP. Yet, Bowman garnered only about 22 percent of the vote. How did it go so wrong?
Strategically, Bowman didn’t rely on Vance to further his campaign. He rarely spoke about their connection publicly, except to say that watching his brother’s inauguration inspired him to join the mayoral race. “When I saw the need for a candidate for mayor, I stepped in,” he said in an August interview.
Running on a platform that prioritized public safety, improved infrastructure, and a targeted budget, Bowman sought to convince voters that he was the ideal candidate to reduce crime and repair streets. “City issues,” he calls them.
And city issues they are. Pureval was under fire for the same issues, chastised for pothole-ridden roads and slow snow-plowing over the winter, then scrutinized for crime in the city’s urban core in the summer. Despite taking countermeasures to end the violence, including a youth curfew and increased drone surveillance, City Manager Sheryl Long placed Police Chief Teresa Theetge on paid administrative leave, where she remains at press time, while the city launched an investigation into her leadership. The move was admonished by the Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed the Bowman campaign.
Bowman, who owns Kings Arms Coffee, said officers stopping by his shop “are overwhelmingly disapproving of, administratively, how things are being run. They don’t believe City Hall has their back.” He added that he would put pressure on city administration to back the police force and put pressure on judges and prosecutors to give appropriate sentences to violent criminals. While the FOP gave a vote of confidence to Bowman’s public safety plan, downtown and Over-the- Rhine residents didn’t, voting overwhelmingly in favor of Pureval.
Bowman was open about being a neophyte and sought to use that to his advantage. His campaign slogan, “Flip the Nati,” was a reference to flip “to common sense” and to stop sensationalizing issues that don’t affect residents. “A lot of people are trying to jump on board national politics and issues, but at the core of the city government is administration,” he said, adding that working closely with the community through his church and coffee shop gave him a good read on the pulse of the city.
Residents soon discovered that his limited involvement in city politics didn’t just have to do with campaigning, though. Despite living in Cincinnati since 2020, Bowman had never voted in a city election, aside from a vote for Trump/Vance in 2024. He attributed his lack of voting history to a larger trend of low voter turnout across the city. “A lot of people haven’t seen a reason to get out and vote,” he said. He hoped his campaign would motivate more people to get involved in the city.
Those efforts fell flat; only about 31 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls. While Bowman may have “Flipped the Nati” in four of Cincinnati’s 190 precincts, Pureval claimed the other 186. The Associated Press called the race less than an hour after polls closed.
With Pureval beginning his second term this month, it’s unclear what’s next for Bowman. Will he flip himself further into the political sphere or return to a quiet life as a neighborhood pastor and coffee shop owner? We’ll have to wait to see his next move.
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