By Anna Toth
The primary election on Sept. 12 has let Cleveland voters narrow down the list of mayoral candidates to two: Mayor Frank Jackson and Councilman Zack Reed. The two men will move on and go head-to-head in the General Election on Nov. 7.
Jackson won the number one spot in the primary, with 38.7 percent of the vote. Reed came in second with 21.9 percent of the vote, with the remaining votes split between the other six primary candidates.
Jackson is running for an unprecedented fourth term, on the promise of expanding upon the work he has done over his last eleven years as mayor of Cleveland. Some of the goals outlined on Jackson’s website — forabettercleveland.com — are to improve safety, reduce violence and ensure accountability.
“I want to keep the progress going,” Jackson said, in a document that outlines his campaign platform.
Reed has served as councilman since 2001, and the biography on his website — zackreed.com — explains the pieces of legislation that he’s passed, as well as the three different committees that he serves on. His campaign platform is based on three issues: leadership and engagement, job creation and public safety.
“Crime and the perception of crime keeps neighborhoods from reaching their fullest potential,” Reed said on his website, underneath his plans to improve public safety.
While many cities in the area are having their mayoral elections this November, this one is particularly important because the city of Cleveland is considered to be the major city in the Northeast Ohio Region. This means that the success of the region as a whole is dependent on the success of the city of Cleveland.
In addition, the decision will impact many of the workers and students who commute into downtown on a day to day basis, even though these people cannot vote for the mayor.
Though Jackson won the number one spot in the primary, a total of 61.1 percent of the primary vote went to other candidates. With the general election on Nov. 7, both Reed and Jackson have a short amount of time to convince the city of Cleveland that they’re fit to be Mayor.