JD Vance endorses brother for mayor, likely helping him advance to general election in Cincinnati

Vice President JD Vance put in a good word for his brother's mayoral bid in Cincinnati, likely helping him secure enough votes to advance to the general election in November.

Cory Bowman, 36, is the founder and pastor of the River Church in the West End of Cincinnati as well as a co-owner of the Kings Arms Coffee shop just up the street. He also happens to be Vance's half-brother.

'When it comes to that relationship, I've said it over and over, but I'll repeat it, he's an amazing role model of mine.'

Though a long shot, Bowman decided to make a run to unseat incumbent Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. On Tuesday, Bowman, Pureval, and a third candidate, Brian Frank, competed against one another in the primary to secure one of the top two spots. The top two will then face off in November.

Vance took to social media to give his brother an extra boost.

"Hey Cincinnati! My brother Cory Bowman is running for mayor and is on the ballot today for the primary. He’s a good guy with a heart for serving his community. Get out there and vote for him!" Vance tweeted just before 1 p.m.

The last-minute endorsement by the VP may have done the trick. While Pureval carried the day with 18,505 votes, more than 82% of the vote, Bowman eked out a second-place finish, gathering 2,894 votes to Frank's 1,022.

Bowman said his older brother's foray into politics, especially his inauguration into the second-highest office in the land in January, inspired him to become involved as well.

"When it comes to that relationship, I've said it over and over, but I'll repeat it, he's an amazing role model of mine," Bowman said, according to WCPO. "I look up to him as a big brother."

Still, Bowman noted that while his brother is busy tackling national and even international problems, he remains focused on local issues. "Our job isn't to copy and paste what's going on in the nation. Our job is to say, however the nation's going, what's going to be best for the city of Cincinnati?" Bowman stated, according to WVXU.

Bowman listed infrastructure issues like potholes and snow removal as well as crime and the city budget as his main concerns.

"When you see the roads, when you see the infrastructure, when you see our snow plows that are kind of not in perfect position, when you see even like our police cruisers that need to be updated ... whether it be for good intention or not, we're seeing that the priorities haven't been the streets," he explained.

Meanwhile, Pureval, who was first elected in 2021, claimed Cincinnati has improved drastically under his leadership and that he wants to help the city continue on that trajectory. "This is our moment, and I'm more determined than ever to keep building on the progress we've achieved together," he said when announcing his re-election bid.

Though mayoral and city council races in Cincinnati are technically nonpartisan, the city is overwhelmingly Democratic. All nine city council members who won in 2023 were endorsed by the Democratic Party.

While Vance and teammate President Donald Trump carried the state of Ohio comfortably over Kamala Harris and Tim Walz by nearly 600,000 votes last fall, the Democratic ticket trounced Republican opponents in Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, 233,000 to 172,000.

The general election in Cincinnati will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

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