One week before the Cleveland mayoral primary elections, Ward 3 councilman Kerry McCormack has endorsed nonprofit executive Justin Bibb in the race, arguing that with new leadership, Cleveland could finally reach its full potential.
Standing at Market Square Park Tuesday morning, McCormack announced that he’d already cast his vote for Bibb via absentee ballot and encouraged residents in Ward 3 and across Cleveland to do so as well.
“Our city is at a defining moment,” McCormack said. “We can either put this city in reverse and drive recklessly into the past, stall this city out in neutral or put this city in drive and move it into the future. I believe Justin Bibb is the mayor to lead us there.”
McCormack said that his endorsement of Bibb should not be construed as a non-endorsement of anyone else, particularly his council colleagues Kevin Kelley and Basheer Jones or former council colleague Zack Reed. Rather, McCormack said, Bibb represented the best chance to alter Cleveland’s course for the future. He said he didn’t want to wake up on the morning of Sept. 15 feeling he hadn’t done everything he could to get Bibb elected.
He said that he believed Bibb was the candidate most likely to push for a progressive policy agenda and would walk the walk of creating more equitable housing, championing investment in underserved neighborhoods and promoting a transparent, modern City Hall.
“We need someone who is going to convene the smartest people in our city, who’s going to swing open the doors of City Hall whether you’re a mother who has experienced lead paint poisoning in her child, whether you’re opening a new business, or whether you’ve got fresh ideas,” he said. “We need a mayor who lives that.”
Bibb said he was honored to accept the endorsement of McCormack and highlighted the missed opportunities of recent years: to restore the West Side Market to its former glory, to make CPP a utility that works for all residents, and to make City Hall work for youth, seniors and small businesses.
“It’s time to turn the page and remake our city with a new political coalition for the 21st century,” Bibb said.
McCormack has served on City Council for five years and represents most of the central business district downtown, along with the near west side neighborhoods of Tremont and Ohio City. If a Black mayor is elected, McCormack is considered to be among the favorites to succeed Kevin Kelley as City Council President.
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This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 7, 2021.
