Politics runs in the family.
Corey Bowman, who is the brother of Vice President JD Vance, achieved a top two finish in the Cincinnati mayoral primary on Tuesday night, earning the chance to compete against incumbent Aftabul in the general election this November.
The 36-year-old Bowman is facing quite a challenge, needing a miracle to beat Pureval, who received an overwhelming 82.5% in a three-man race. Bowman came in second with 12.9% of the vote, while Brian Frank followed closely with 4.6%.
Though local elections in Cincinnati aren’t officially partisan, it seems Pureval, along with the GOP and Democrats, plays into that narrative.
Bowman, who operates a church alongside his wife Jordan on the city’s western edge, also owns a local coffee shop. He and Frank are the first Republicans to enter the Cincinnati mayoral race since 2009.
Bowman is the son of Vance’s estranged father, Donald Bowman, who passed away in 2023. The elder Bowman had raised Vance for adoption while he was in kindergarten, and Vance was mostly brought up by his maternal grandparents.
“Hey Cincinnati!” Vance posted on X on Tuesday. “My brother Corey Bowman is running for mayor and today he’s voting in the primary. He’s a good guy with a heart to serve the community. Go out there and vote for him!”
Cincinnati, like most large U.S. cities, leans heavily Democratic, having favored then-President Kamala Harris by a margin of more than 3-1 in the 2024 presidential election.
“You can’t see much support for a Republican in Cincinnati, especially not for Trump Vance,” noted David Niven, a political professor at the University of Cincinnati.
Pureval, who is the child of Indian immigrants, made history as the first Asian American elected mayor of Queen City in 2021, securing 66.8% of the vote.
Bowman criticized Pureval for failing to make necessary infrastructure repairs, implementing a new zoning plan without proper reviews, and not adequately addressing a major January blizzard.
A Republican, inspired by his half-brother’s political journey, decided to run for mayor after realizing that Pureval might not face significant opposition in his bid for a second term.
