Petition to Recall Kahlil Seren Approved, Will Be on Ballot in September

Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren at a City Council meeting in May. Credit: Mark Oprea

Embattled Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren will serve only one term in office after failing to collect and submit enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot in November, and it’s possible he will be forced to leave office even sooner.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections this week approved the recall petition submitted by a coalition of Cleveland Heights residents to force vote a on the September 9th ballot on whether to remove Seren.

Those critics were able to gather 3,845 valid signatures to approve the recall movement, nearly ten times the amount of signatures Seren himself gathered to try and make the ballot as a candidate.

Josie Moore, an organizer and former mayoral candidate, told Scene that she owes such a resounding turnout—getting 75 more signatures than their target count—to a sentiment amongst Heights residents that Seren’s contentious approach to his office is past its expiration date.

“Many people are very concerned about Seren’s willingness to enable a smooth transition to our next mayor,” Moore told Scene in a text message Tuesday.

“They want our next mayor to be set up for success,” she added, “not inheriting a shell-shocked skeleton crew and a 2026 budget that limits their ability to put their vision for our city into action.”

In early June, Moore and a handful of colleagues traversed Cleveland Heights to try and rally signatures for a recall they all felt was long overdue.

Seren, they claimed, was harming City Hall’s reputation and ongoing ability to function. There were the issues of allowing his wife, Natalie McDaniel, in on important decisions. There were the alleged antisemitic remarks she made. There were the run-ins with police and staff. There were abrupt resignations at City Hall, lawsuits, and tension with council and the law department.

There was, Moore and others wrote in a letter, “a pattern of leadership failures that place the city at risk.”

Seren himself denied most of the accusations against him in a town hall meeting last week, framing the undertones of the ousting as a political “lynching” against Black mayors like himself. He did however agree that McDaniel maybe shouldn’t be a regular presence at City Hall, as an independent investigation into the matter suggested.

According to Cleveland Heights law, Seren must resign by this weekend—which is entirely unlikely—or the issue will go on the September ballot.

If Seren leaves, or he’s recalled in the fall election, City Council President Tony Cuda will take his place.

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