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AAPI Victory Fund-backed candidate Aftab Pureval (D) defeated former mayor David Mann (D) in Cincinnati’s mayoral race on Tuesday, becoming the only Asian American mayor in the Midwest.
Pureval, who is Indian and Tibetan, previously fell short in a 2018 congressional bid, but outpolled Mann in limited surveys. He campaigned as a fresh face and a progressive agent of change, highlighting economic development, public safety, affordable housing, and climate change as key issues.
“We have a very small AAPI community in Cincinnati,” Pureval told the Associated Press ahead of Tuesday’s results. “I think if we’re successful tonight, it will show not just that AAPIs can run and win on the coasts or where there’s large Asian populations, but that AAPIs can run and win anywhere.”
Mann, who billed his candidacy as a continuation of predecessor John Cranley’s (D) eight years of leadership, attacked Pureval for his criminal justice plan, which seeks to rely more heavily on mental health professionals in crises that don’t require an armed response, among other things. In campaign ads aired across the city, Mann accused Pureval of wanting to “Defund the Police.” But Pureval refuted the claim, telling the Cincinnati Enquirer he opposed the defunding movement.
Pureval grew up in Beavercreek, Ohio and was elected the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in 2016—the first Democrat to do so in over a century. In an interview with the Enquirer after his 2016 win, Pureval said he was told not to run for office because “you had to have the right name or be related to the right people.”
“We proved those people wrong,” he said.
Before serving as the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, Pureval worked as the global brand attorney for Olay at the consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, and served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney from 2012 to 2013, where he worked with the FBI to prosecute crimes against children.
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