Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren Says He's a Victim of "Political Lynching"

Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren issued an eleven-paragraph statement to all of his residents on Monday, blaming a “political lynching” behind news that he was accused of a wiretapping incident in April. Credit: Mark Oprea

The morning of April 3 at Cleveland Heights City Hall was, according to some members of its Law Department, a bit out of the ordinary.

Mayor Kahlil Seren arrived at its door at 7:09 a.m., CCTV footage shows. He’s wearing a ballcap and carrying a duffel bag. He enters with a key fob, then leaves at 7:13 a.m. He does the same thing at 7:05 p.m. that evening, and leaves shortly thereafter.

According to a letter from Cleveland Heights Police Chief Christopher Britton to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Seren might have left something when he went into that area that day: a locked laptop, hidden in between a refrigerator and a stack of boxes, Cleveland.com originally reported.

And not just to charge its battery. That day, staffers in the Law Department were being interviewed about the contentious behavior of Seren’s wife and so-called “First Lady,” Natalie McDaniel, who had been accused of a series of outbursts at City Hall that led to a hostile work environment. (And the city losing three administrators.)

Though the BCI eventually declined to keep an investigation open on Seren’s possible wiretapping, Cleveland Heights City Council opted to pass legislation on Friday to form a fact-finding mission of its own.

“It’s just been one thing after another,” Council President Tony Cuda said at Friday’s meeting. “Please, Mayor, for the good of the community, step down.”

Seren responded Monday with the defiance he’s come to be known for this year, despite a collection of scandals.

And the response was just as singular as the last: an eleven-paragraph letter emailed directly to each and every Cleveland Heights resident a few days after he became the sixth mayoral candidate to submit signatures to land himself on the ballot in September. (Early reports suggest he may not have enough valid ones.)

Seren’s full message is below (links to relevant news articles added by Scene):

Like many Black mayors during the Trump era, I’ve been subjected to a political lynching—driven by those who have weaponized our community’s unaddressed racist biases and hate for their own gain, manipulating fear and division to serve their interests.

I am deeply thankful to the voters of Cleveland Heights for electing me as mayor almost four years ago—and for working hard to put me back on the ballot this week despite the best efforts of some who have tried for my entire term to overturn the will of the voters by consistently undermining the person they chose to lead. While the validation of my candidacy is currently in the hands of the Board of Elections, I am your mayor for the remainder of 2025.

In a democracy, the will of the voters must always come first. No special interests or outside forces should ever be able to override an election or block a duly elected mayor from doing the job they were chosen to do. Yet that’s exactly what I have endured for almost four years. And I must call it what it is: an assault on democracy and a failed attempt to silence the will of the people.

As the mayor of this great city, I fully expect political opposition—that comes with the job and it’s fair. But what is not fair, what is not acceptable, is the persistence of a false and deeply harmful trope: that I, as a Black man, lack the intelligence, the work ethic, and the moral character to lead. That narrative is not new. It is a relic of America’s darkest chapters, used for generations to justify slavery and the systematic subjugation of Black people—by denying our capacity for thought, leadership and self-determination. To see that same trope weaponized against me today is not just a personal attack—it’s an attack on progress, on truth and on every Black person who has ever been told they are less than. I reject it fully—and I will continue to lead this city with the strength, integrity and vision our residents deserve.

James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” That’s why I’m speaking this truth today. I don’t expect to change the minds of those who see me as their lesser simply because my Blackness tells them that I can’t possibly be a leader that they should respect and value. I can’t know what resentment and bias these people hold in their hearts, I can only conclude based on the consistency of their publicly expressed prejudice against my every action.

But I do believe this: the time is always right to stand up—to speak out—against injustice, against hatred and against the lies that seek to diminish the humanity of all people of color.

So I am addressing the hateful individuals who have tried to obstruct me from fighting for the people of Cleveland Heights. I am telling them that they cannot and will not win.

They’ve become so desperate, they have attacked the love of my life, my wife. She has been falsely accused in an attempt to tear me down. But I have evidence proving her innocence and will share that with the community. Now they are pulling another page from a well worn playbook: trying to criminalize my lawful actions as Mayor and seeking to destroy my well-earned reputation for a strict adherence to doing things the right way for a full decade of service to this community. I am in the good company of Black mayors nationwide – from Los Angeles to New Orleans, from Chicago to Memphis—who have all faced the same kind of stalker-level scrutiny, false accusations, and a constant drumbeat of negative propaganda against them on both the personal and professional levels.

All of this is a distraction rooted in outdated, hateful tropes that are carefully framed to mislead. It is noise meant to divide and derail us. But I am here to serve, to make our city better and to improve the lives of everyone in Cleveland Heights. That mission has not changed and I will not be prevented from moving our city forward.

Our richness lies in our diversity only if we choose to fully embrace it. We have people from nearly every walk of life that have chosen to call our city their home. That is something I am proud of and it’s something we all should cherish as one of Ohio’s greatest cities.

Serving as your mayor has been the honor of my life. And I will not allow racists, demagogues or special interests to distract me from the work that matters: building a cleaner, more affordable and more beautiful city for everyone who calls it home.

Seren will be speaking at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, at 2747 Fairmount Blvd, 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

A leader of the recall campaign, Josie Moore, told Scene on Monday that she and her organizing team have gathered the required 2,900 signatures to certify an upcoming vote to oust Seren from office.

“We are on track to submit by either Friday or next Monday,” Moore said in a text message. “We have surpassed the minimum needed, and are now just getting our buffer.”

If the required number of signatures are verified, a vote to recall Seren would happen, ironically, this September.

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