Cincinnati City Hall // Photo: Emily Widman

After months of contentious mayoral campaigning and dozens of council candidates vying to stand out in a crowded race, Cincinnati’s election has wrapped with little changed at City Hall.

With 100% of Hamilton County precincts reporting, these are the results.

The race for mayor ended as predicted with Democratic incumbent Mayor Aftab Pureval securing his second term. Pureval raked in 78% of the vote over Republican challenger (and half-brother to veep JD Vance) Cory Bowman, who managed 22%, or about 14,383 votes.

The city council race was one to watch with 26 candidates, including eight incumbents, running for nine open seats. All eight incumbents won their seats — Council Member Victoria Parks is the only member who opted out of the race — and political newcomer Ryan James won the final seat. At 29, James is the youngest Black man to sit on Cincinnati City Council.

The entire council is Democrat-endorsed. The 10th-place vote-getter was Republican Liz Keating, who previously served on council. Here’s the order of votes earned by council winners:

With 100% of precincts reporting, these are the votes earned by the winners of Cincinnati’s 2025 City Council election, according to the Hamilton County Board of Elections. // Photo: Hamilton County Board of Elections

This year’s election centered heavily on public safety, especially in the mayor’s race. Read more in CityBeat‘s 2025 Election Guide.

Do you have a news tip?

SEND A NEWS TIP

Subscribe to our Mailing List!

Sign up. We hope you like us, but if you don't, you can unsubscribe by following the links in the email, or by dropping us a note at policy@citybeat.com.

By clicking “Sign up” above, you consent to allow us to contact you via email, and store your information using our third-party service provider. To see more information about how your information is stored and privacy protected, visit our policies page.