Screenshot / City Club of Cleveland
"Don't click on the links!" Candidate Tariq Shabazz warns the City Club of scams.
Tariq K. Shabazz, the twenty-eight-year-old Democratic candidate for Cuyahoga County Executive, spoke last week at the City Club of Cleveland to introduce himself to voters and differentiate himself from his well-funded counterparts in the race.
Armed with a political science degree and progressive convictions, the amiable Shabazz clearly has his sights on a career in politics. In fact, he has run for multiple elected offices, including the U.S. House of Representatives, since his honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy in 2019. In his remarks, he billed himself as a humanitarian candidate who would put people over businesses in Cuyahoga County. He said he believed that housing was a human right, that public transit should be affordable, and that the county's land use should be wholly reevaluated to ensure that formerly redlined communities have opportunities to build wealth and ownership.
Unlike his Democratic opponent, Chris Ronayne, and the race's Republican challenger, Lee Weingart, Shabazz said he had put his life on the line as a member of the U.S. military defending the Constitution. A number of his policy priorities were either focused on veterans directly or based on his experience with military technology and operations. Among other things, he wants to devote county resources to enhanced cybersecurity measures. He also referenced seeking potential grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Shabazz acknowledged his outsider status in the race. As a 28-year-old who has never held elected office running against candidates with political experience and regional clout, his speech was in some sense a justification for his running at all.
"I will offer a different level of tenacity," he said, "a different level of ingenuity and a different level of innovation... I'm not just some young kid. I'm a a man who has served his country... Growing up in the community I did, people didn't get many chances. All I need is one shot. You give me one shot, I'm going to excel."
After recounting his personal history, Shabazz touched on a number of political and philosophical commitments in his address, many of which concerned airing out the unspoken "harsh realities" affecting Cuyahoga County residents, and tackling systemic inequities.
He made a personal commitment to relinquish $50,000 of his salary each year and vowed that, if elected, he would serve no more than two terms. He said he would promote greater government transparency and would push for across-the-board criminal justice reform, including ending cash bail. Like Weingart, Shabazz said he supported selling the county-owned Hilton Hotel.
"It's not even being utilized in a manner that's improving the county," he said. "We've got to make sure that our assets are assets."
Turning to controversial stadium financing deals and other economic development strategies, Shabazz said he was willing to do business with the pro sports teams and other major employers, but that it was incumbent on the county to ensure that residents were getting the best deal in those situations.
He admitted, in the end, that as county executive he wouldn't have all the answers.
"But I assure you that I'll bring the right people into the fold," he said. "We will be fiscally sound, with a balanced budget. And we will make sure that humanitarian causes are valued above all else."
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