Voters backed change in 2021 Cleveland elections, but pushed back on politicizing local

CLEVELAND, Ohio – This year’s election season brought major changes to Cleveland, with voters passing the torch to a new generation of leaders and backing a measure to overhaul police oversight with a powerful civilian panel.

Across Greater Cleveland, meanwhile, voters pushed back against efforts to load local school boards with conservatives as part of the culture wars over mask and vaccine policies and critical race theory.

Here’s a look back at some key moments.

New face, new energy

Justin Bibb, 34, will become the second youngest mayor in Cleveland’s history when he takes office in January, replacing four-term Mayor Frank Jackson, who is more than twice his age.

Bibb announced his candidacy in January, several months before Jackson confirmed he would not seek a fifth term in office.

Bibb entered the race largely unknown.

A local non-profit founder and executive, he lacked the political resume of many other challengers — City Council President Kevin Kelley, former Mayor Dennis Kucinich, former Cleveland City Councilman Zack Reed, state Sen. Sandra Williams and City Councilman Basheer Jones.

Bibb’s campaign was built on a message of change, while Kelley was endorsed by Jackson and had worked closely with the mayor as the leader of City Council.

“We are in a moment of crisis and opportunity in our city, and Cleveland’s future depends on what we do next,” he said when he announced his candidacy. “We have some big decisions to make to solve the most urgent challenges of our city’s time, and we can’t afford more of the same.”

Bibb was able to offset his name recognition disadvantage by building a coalition that spanned much of the city. That included backing from former Mayor Michael R. White, who campaigned for Bibb throughout.

And his message of change resonated with voters. Young professionals from Downtown, Ohio City and Detroit Shoreway, for example, turned out at much higher rates than normal and were essential to Bibb’s base.

Bibb handily defeated Kelley in the general election, capturing 63% of the electorate and winning by more than 13,000 votes. He repeated that message in his victory speech election night.

“The work is just beginning,” Bibb said. “Tonight, we celebrate. And tomorrow, we are going to roll up our sleeves and do the work to move our city forward in a better direction.”

Reform issue a deciding factor

A key factor in the mayoral race was Issue 24, a proposal to change Cleveland’s charter that a diverse coalition placed on the ballot by initiative petition.

The measure rewrites part of Cleveland’s charter to hand oversight of the police department to the citizens that officers are sworn to protect.

It’s a proposal deeply rooted in the community’s distrust of police and in calls for accountability that reached a fever pitch after the Cleveland police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.

Those calls have continued, fueled by frustrations that the system has not been fixed despite a 2015 federal consent decree governing police reform in Cleveland.

Nearly 60% of voters supported the issue. Implementing it will fall to Bibb and the new City Council.

A Civilian Police Review Board will have authority to investigate complaints from the public against officers and to order disciplinary action.

A powerful Community Police Commission, which will oversee the review board and have final say in disciplinary action, will also have broad policy making powers and operate independently from the mayor’s administration.

Bibb faced an onslaught of attacks over his support of the issue. Kelley sought to make it a key to the election, launching attacks that accused Bibb of trying to “defund the police.”

Ultimately, that strategy failed.

Dark money and dirty tricks

A mailer that darkened the face of a Black candidate. Fake campaign literature disguised as a newspaper. A demeaning comic book. And oodles of television and radio ads.

All were efforts funded by outside money to influence the Cleveland mayoral race.

Several groups had the ability to raise and spend an unlimited amount of money, while keeping the names of their donors anonymous. They won’t be revealed until the groups submit expense filings to the Federal Elections Commission in January.

One group, Citizens for Change, garnered much attention for its attacks on Kucinich. The group’s website stated it was “dedicated to preventing Dennis Kucinich from becoming Cleveland’s mayor again.”

It produced several gimmicky mailers, including one in the style of a comic book that labels Kucinich as “Dennis the Menace” along with a list of criticisms.

Later, the group focused on Bibb. One mailer, though, may have backfired.

The mailer included an image of Bibb that appeared to be digitally darkened and included a litany of anonymous allegations against him. Many, including Bibb, criticized it as racist.

The attack may have aided Bibb’s chances in the primary, where he bested Kelley – the second-place finisher – by more than 3,000 votes.

Politicizing the schoolhouse

School board elections across the country became politicized this year, leading to an uptick in candidates in what often are sleepy races.

The rancor originated primarily with conservative television and right-wing groups, which started to push that students were learning “critical race theory,” while not always defining it.

Critical race theory is studied at the university level and not in K-12 schools. Some themes examined in critical race theory, such as the lasting effects of slavery, have been discussed in public schools. Groups such as the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, a leading voice in opposition to the theory, falsely equates it with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The increase in candidates – up 50% in Ohio from 2017 – also was fueled by objections to policies school districts established requiring masks during the pandemic, vaccinations, sex education, and social and emotional learning. Many of those complaints also mirrored talking points on conservative television and radio.

Local groups popped up in suburban Cleveland, but so did groups seeking to counter what they see as an assault on education.

Election night tallies show that candidates supported by the conservative Christian group Ohio Value Voters or opposed by the liberal-leaning Protect Ohio’s Future had won races in a handful of Cuyahoga County districts, but few full slates prevailed.

In a dozen suburbs where candidates disagreed on issues including equity, sex education and masks, eight of 34 seats went to those conservative-leaning candidates. The rest went to a mix of incumbents and newcomers supported by Protect Ohio’s Future.

But while conservative candidates campaigning on the cultural wars made only small gains in local school board races across Ohio, political observers say it’s just the beginning of a movement.

They expect candidates to continue thumping the same issues in 2022.