Mark Oprea
Matthew Ahn is challenging current County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley in this year's election
At Saturday's meeting of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, incumbent county prosecutor Michael O'Malley failed to earn enough support to be endorsed by the party in his race against challenger Matthew Ahn.
O'Malley garnered 58.5% of the votes, falling short of the 60% threshold that would have led to an endorsement. Ahn tallied 37.7%. Another 3.9% abstained.
For Ahn, a CSU professor and former public defender, the non-endorsement was a victory as he seeks to unseat O'Malley, who's held the office since 2016 after he defeated Timothy McGinty while riding backlash to his predecessor's handling of the Tamir Rice killing at the hands of Cleveland police.
"I think what happened on Saturday was a really big deal," Ahn told Scene. "A big vote of no confidence in our incumbent prosecutor and the policies that he has implemented, which have not worked. I spent the last eight months really talking individually with members, hearing their concerns, and talking about policies. I wanted to demonstrate to them how the prosecutor is failing them, and our communities, and talking about data-driven and research-based strategies that we know can make our communities safer."
O'Malley told Scene he wasn't surprised at the result, saying that the county party has moved to the left.
"I was close but no cigar," he said. "I think it shows that while moderates still have a majority of the party, there's also been less interest in the county party as a whole and that the activists are pretty much the progressive and further left. Certainly, we're a big umbrella, and I think it demonstrated that there's certainly more moderates in the party."
Despite not winning the endorsement, O'Malley said he enjoys strong support amongst ward leaders and voters. He also suggested that some of Ahn's suburban support — in Bay Village and Lyndhurst, for example — came in communities that don't face the same public safety issues that confront the city of Cleveland and other inner-ring suburbs.
"Because they live in very safe communities, so it's easy to be in Bay Village and say we're going to defund the police and the type of stuff that Matthew has posted about on social media in the past," he said. "I think, frankly, it's easier to believe in some of that — discretionary bindovers, for example — when you've never been carjacked in your community, when you've never been dragged out of your car at a gas station with a gun to your head. You think, oh, you can go easy on people. We can't turn a blind eye to victims of crime. But I think the realities are me and my staff have a good focus on rehabilitating low-level offenders, we've started diversion programs with juveniles, we're trying to get people with mental and substance abuse issues on the right path."
Ahn took issue with O'Malley's characterization, arguing suburban residents are equally aware of the public safety issues facing the region and that Ahn's platform isn't wholly progressive.
"I'm following data and research, I'm not trying to be a progressive icon," he said. "It seems odd to call out suburban strongholds of support when I think I enjoyed fairly strong support across the city of Cleveland as well. I don't think somebody in the suburbs isn't watching the same local news we're all watching. It seems like another way for my opponent to simply avoid taking responsibility for a lack of support within his own party."
O'Malley touched on party unity in his nominating speech, saying that he hoped divisions in the prosecutor race wouldn't prevent the county party from coming together strongly to support issues and tickets further up the ballot, including Sherrod Brown's impending race for re-election.
"It's critical, given our Senator being up and the Ohio Supreme Court Justices up, that we come together," he told Scene.
With two months before the primary election, Ahn hopes to capitalize on the momentum.
"This means a number of things," he said. "Just from an operational perspective, neither one of us has a substantial leg up in party support. We have a level playing field and we'll let the voters decide. And I think that's a good thing, considering we've only seen two meaningful, competitive county prosecutor races in decades."
For O'Malley, he remains confident and told Scene. "I'd rather have 58.5% of the vote than 38%."
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