Contributed
Voting turnout in Cincinnati for the November 4, 2025 election was higher than expected at approximately 30 percent. Perhaps the bump in voters was due to the beautiful weather or the fact that there were 27 candidates, including one write-in for the nine Cincinnati City Council seats. The Hamilton County Democratic slate finished strong with all members of the slate winning the mayoral, city council, and Municipal Court judicial seats.
Mayor and City Council
With 100 percent of the votes in, it was determined that Mayor Aftab Pureval and all eight of the nine incumbents on City Council were re-elected: Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, and Councilmembers Anna Albi, Jeff Cramerding, Mark Jeffreys, Scotty Johnson, Evan Nolan, Meeka Owens, and Seth Walsh. President Pro Tem Victoria Parks did not run for re-election. The Hamilton County Democratic Party endorsed Ryan James for Parks’ seat. James became the youngest African American male to be elected to Cincinnati City Council.
Cincinnati School Board
Cincinnati voters re-elected Cincinnati School Board incumbents Dr. Kareem Moncree Moffett, Brandon Craig, and Jim Crosset. Voters elected newcomer Kari Armbruster who was endorsed by the Hamilton County Democratic Party.
Municipal Court Judges
Cincinnati voters elected new Municipal Court judges Danielle Colliver, Rodney Harris, Bernie Mundy, and Athena Stefanou. Voters re-elected current Municipal Court judges Gwen Bender, Dwayne Mallory and Mike Peck.
Issues
Issues 2, 3, 28, and 34 were prominent in discussions across the City, and voters passed all four.
Issue 2 was a Charter amendment to give graduates of a public safety internship program five points in examination credit on entry level fire and police department exams. The amendment was to incentivize service in the City’s fire and police departments.
Issue 3 amended the City’s Charter to align the City’s campaign finance report deadlines with the state’s deadlines, make reporting periods correspond with timing of local elections, and extend the deadline to fill vacancies on the Cincinnati Elections Commission.
Issue 28 was a renewal levy to support programming for Cincinnati Public Schools K-12 students, and to provide high-quality preschools.
Issue 34 was a renewal level for the benefit of Hamilton County’s Great Parks.
Congratulations for a blue wave in Cincy. Let’s take it to the next level.
Glad Mayor Aftab is staying on. That low quality brother of JD Vance did not stand a chance.
The city council has entirely too many white folks.
Be keeping my eyes on them
I hope we get control of the violence in Cincy.
Too many bad teens and young adults without focus. Now they ain’t got no food and riding the city bus. I like Mayor Aftab but come on and figure it out.
We definitely approved of the Mayor winning the election.
Cincinnati don’t got no more crime than other big cities in America.
But we still gotta do better.
Big up to the Mayor.
He doing an alright job.