Voters in Cleveland Heights decided to recall embattled Mayor Kahlil Seren in Tuesday’s election, the results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections showed in an unofficial count.
As of Wednesday morning, 8,307 voters turned out to polls across the city to cast their decision on the issue; a whopping 6,829 of them decided that Seren was no longer fit to lead. The city needed a simple majority to oust Seren three months before the end of his term in January.
Josie Moore, a 2021 mayoral candidate that helped back Seren’s recall campaign, said she believes Cleveland Heights made the right decision.
“The people of Cleveland Heights were clear: we could not afford to wait,” Moore told Scene. “We must now act to protect our city.”
“This wasn’t about politics. It was about responsibility,” she added. “To our city employees, to our finances and to our future.”
After the results are certified on September 26, Cleveland Heights’ first elected mayor will be forced to concede his seat to City Council President Tony Cuda, who will act as mayor until January 1.
In early June, Moore and a handful of colleagues traversed Cleveland Heights with fellow supporters to try and validate a recall they all felt was long overdue. They collected 3,845 signatures—well over the 2,900 needed.
Seren, they claimed, was unfit to lead. He and wife Natalie McDaniel had become embroiled in a series of scandals, including anti-semitic remarks, multiple instances of unprofessional behavior, allegations of wiretapping, and McDaniel’s indictment on trespassing charges.
There was, Moore and others wrote in a letter this summer, “a pattern of leadership failures that place the city at risk.” Those that, they claimed, led to “extremely high” staff turnover, the resignation of three city administrators and a my-way-or-the-highway take on management that “fostered public alarm and distrust.”
Seren’s successor will undeniably have to tackle issues of trust when they take the seat from Cuda in January.
In Tuesday’s primary mayoral election, Jim Petras and Davida Russell, both on Cleveland Heights City Council, finished with roughly 28 percent of the vote each. The two will face off in a general election in November.
Cleveland Heights City Hall has not released an official statement on the election results thus far, and did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
“We will not speculate about outcomes. We will await the Board of Elections’ official results and, as required, certification,” Seren wrote in a statement Tuesday afternoon.