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Six people are running for mayor of Cincinnati in the May 4 primary, after which the field narrows to the top two vote-getters for the general election.
The field includes well-known politicians, some currently on City Council, and political newcomers, who say their business and life experience make them the best candidate.
Five are Democrats, and one is an independents. No party affiliation will appear on the ballot.
No Republicans are seeking the seat, a nod to the city's heavily Democratic majority.
David Mann
Age: 81
Party: Democrat
Neighborhood: Clifton
On the issues::David Mann: I'll bring 'experience, evenhanded personality, maturity' as Cincinnati mayor
Mann has the most political experience of any of the candidates. He served on Cincinnati City Council from 1974-1992. He was mayor from 1980 to 1982 and again in 1991, under a system in which council's top vote-getter was the mayor. Mann was Ohio's 1st Congressional District U.S. Representative from 1993 to 1995.
He was elected again to Cincinnati City Council in 2013, and re-elected in 2017. Mann was vice mayor during the 2013 term and is chairman of Council's Budget and Finance Committee this term.
Mann practices law with his son, Michael, at their firm, Mann & Mann.
He is also a veteran of the United States Navy. As a lieutenant, he served on the U.S.S. English (DD-696), a destroyer that was one of the first ships to reach Cuban waters during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Cecil Thomas
Age: 68
Party: Democrat
Neighborhood: North Avondale
On the issues:Cecil Thomas: 'I'm running to restore the integrity of the Queen City'
Thomas is an Ohio state senator, first elected in 2014. He was a Cincinnati City Councilman from 2005, serving eight years.
He is also a former Cincinnati police officer and the former head of the city's Human Relations Commission.
Thomas has long worked on police/community relationships and prioritized reducing crime by helping people before they turn to crime. He did that as a police officer, in his role as Human Relations Commission director -- he asked the Department of Justice to look at police-community relations in Cincinnati in 1999, two years before the 2001 riots -- and as a council member.
Aftab Pureval
Age: 38
Party: Democrat
Neighborhood: Clifton
On the issues:Aftab Pureval: 'Make sure prosperity is shared in every corner of our city'
Pureval was elected Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in 2016, defeating popular Republican Tracey Winkler. In that role, Pureval set up an eviction help center that operations when eviction court is happening.
He was re-elected in 2020.
Pureval ran a high-profile race against Republican Steve Chabot for the 1st Congressional District in 2018, but lost. His spending in that race was questioned, prompting an Ohio Elections Commission investigation another by the Hamilton County Board of Elections into how campaign checks ended up redacted.
The outcome was a violation of state election laws that found he used money from his bid for county clerk of courts to pay for photographs related to his congressional seat run. He was fined $100.
Raffel Prophett
Age: 61
Party: Democrat
Neighborhood: North Avondale
On the issues:Cincinnati mayoral candidate Raffel Prophett: City needs 'courageous, creative, selfless leadership'
Prophett is a retired Cincinnati Fire Department district chief and a retired Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. In 2017, Prophett filed a lawsuit against Cincinnati and then- City Manager Harry Black, alleging discrimination after Prophett was denied promotions with the fire department after bringing up issues of wrongdoing. A federal judge dismissed the case and it's closed.
Herman Najoli
Age: 44
Party: Independent
Neighborhood: West Price Hill
On the issues:Cincinnati mayoral candidate Herman Najoli: 'I am the unlikeliest of candidates'
Najoli is an adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. Najoli, a native of Kenya, moved to Cincinnati in 2007. He ran for Hamilton County commissioner in 2020 but came in third behind winner Alicia Reece and Republican Andy Black.
'A Cincinnati missionary':'Tech entrepreneur Adam Koehler announces mayoral race
Gavi Begtrup
Age: 36
Party: Democrat
Neighborhood: Mount Lookout
On the issues:Cincinnati mayoral candidate Gavi Begtrup: 'We need the city to grow equitably and work for everyone'
Begtrup is a scientist who has two physics' degrees. He worked for U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords from 2009 to 2012, during the time when Giffords was shot. That experience crystallized for him the importance of making a difference in the world, he says. Begtrup founded two start-up tech companies, WaveTech and Eccrine Systems, both now closed, before targeting the 2021 mayor's race as his next job.
In other words, he's not a City Hall insider. And, he said, he believes that's exactly what Cincinnati needs right now in the wake of three council members being arrested on federal corruption charges.
"It's time for a leader in City Hall that is a leader for all of us," Begtrup said. "And not a person just looking for their next office."
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