In an election cycle flush with incumbents, at least one race will bring a new face to Cleveland City Council — and it’s among the tightest and most expensive races this year.
Ward 7, which includes Ohio City, Tremont, the Flats and parts of Detroit-Shoreway, has offered a clear path for newcomers since Kerry McCormack announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election in the fall.
After McCormack’s announcement, the candidates emerged: door knocking, engaging with residents, passing out flyers and planting signs on tree lawns. Two came out on top in the September primary election: attorneys Austin Davis and Mohammad Faraj.
Davis won about 56% of the vote to Faraj’s 33%, knocking Mike Rogalski out of the race. The percentage margin between the two top finishers was among the slimmest in the primary.
It’s also the highest-dollar race: campaign finance filings through the end of June show the pair have more than $115,000 in funds raised and on hand: Faraj with about $72,000 and Davis with $43,000 in funds available as campaign season ramps up.
Council member McCormack, whose Downtown and Near West Side Ward 3 closely resembles the newly drawn Ward 7, subsequently announced he would leave office in October, with his appointed replacement, who is not running for election, serving in the seat through the end of the year.
Austin Davis plans to bridge council and administration with City Hall experience
Davis, an attorney living in Tremont, most recently worked as the senior policy advisor to Mayor Justin Bibb. He helped craft laws like the sweeping Residents First legislative package, which aimed to crack down on out-of-state and absentee landlords, and pay transparency laws to boost pay equity for women and minorities.
Davis said housing is a top priority for his campaign. It’s something he feels he’s equipped to handle given his legislative experience.
As neighborhoods like Ohio City and Tremont quickly become unaffordable for many, he said he hopes to increase housing development for a wide range of incomes -- not only to minimize the effects on those being pushed out of rapidly gentrifying areas, but to continue to allow development and economic growth in a city that has lost population for decades.
“I take more of a ‘let's build more housing,’” Davis said. “I think we need not just more market rate, but not just affordable too, it takes all the above: it's not just single-family homes, but it's also not just these large luxury apartments. We need everything in between the missing middle or gentle density in-field development.”
Last year, Cleveland experienced one of the highest rent increases in the U.S., as property valuations skyrocketed for homeowners. Meanwhile, construction for new builds has stalled to historically low levels.
That gap is palpable on the Near West Side, Davis said. Though more than three-quarters of the ward live above the federal poverty threshold, as compared to 69% of Clevelanders, about 40% of renters do not live in affordable housing, meaning their housing costs exceed 30% of their household income, according to data from the Center for Community Solutions.
Davis also points to traffic and walkability as a top issue facing the neighborhoods.
He said he’s also concerned about the basics: trash pickup, reliable electricity, plowed streets in the winter.
“The lived experience of Clevelanders; the friction or the smoothness of living here is what will keep a family here or we'll drive them out if they have options to leave,” Davis said. “I want to keep it up and make sure it’s easy to say yes to Cleveland over and over and over in those little ways.”
Bibb and council members have clashed over budget priorities and other political issues throughout the years, but Davis believes his years of experience working in City Hall will offer a bridge between the two bodies of government.
“I think it’s a healthy challenge,” Davis said. “Not everyone’s on the same page because not everyone’s representing the same constituency in the City of Cleveland … The mayor’s looking at city-wide projects maybe longer term and City Council members are really focused on the 25,000 people in our individual wards … So it’s important that those voices are brought to the mayor’s office.”
Bibb endorsed Davis for the Ward 7 seat.
"I worked closely with Austin, so I know what he’s made of," he wrote in a Sept. 19 social media post. "He will bring smarts, passion, and creativity to Ward 7 and Cleveland City Council. Couldn’t be prouder to endorse him."
Mohammad Faraj wants better government accessibility, more resident voices in City Hall
Faraj, also an attorney, is a Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland State University graduate and homeowner in Detroit-Shoreway.
He’s the child to Palestinian parents, whom he said were seeking “stability and dignity, both of which they found in Cleveland.”
He grew up in North Olmsted with seven siblings and began working for his father’s small business at age 10.
“My parents taught me and my seven siblings that freedom and liberty aren't just for those that agree with you,” Faraj said. “So I was taught that public service and the management of public programs, they are a sacred responsibility.”
After attending law school in Indiana, he returned to Cleveland to work in anti-money laundering and compliance law.
“My professional experience is all about oversight, accountability, and problem solving,” Faraj said. “Those are the skills that I intend to bring to public service.”
Faraj wants city government to be more accessible to the people it serves. In the primary election, only 7% of Cleveland voters turned out. He wants more people to be involved.
“I am running for City Council to help improve the everyday lives of every resident,” he said. “I'm committed to the belief that local government should be accessible, dependable and reliable, and I want to change how government listens. I want to challenge the assumptions our leaders make about what and who gets prioritized. Right now, our leaders are more interested in selling us their preferred solutions as opposed to working with us to understand the problems.”
He said his top five priorities — accessibility, infrastructure, public safety, development and small business development — came out of conversations with residents and door knocking across the ward.
“I don’t think residents want a prepackaged solution,” he said. “The needs of those in Tremont are different than those in Lakeview, which are different from those that live in the Flats, which are definitely different from those who live in Ohio City or the Detroit-Shoreway and so on and so forth.”
He said it’s important to have the voice of the people in City Hall, which includes championing public comment: something that’s posed significant challenges for council members in the last term.
As City Council and activists clashed last year over a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza — something they ultimately did five months later — public comment periods were flooded and meetings were sometimes disrupted by protests. During that conflict and in the year since, council members have pushed for public comment rules changes and faced a legal battle over First Amendment protections during government meetings.
“[Public comment] is an asset and we have to make sure that we respect it and we do it in a way that the residents have full trust and transparency in that process,” he said.
Faraj said the role he intends to play on council is an “anti-genocide budget hawk” in reference to his advocacy for Palestinians as the war in Gaza continues.
“I think every decision I make, especially as it pertains to a budget, will be based on valuing collective political power that doesn't define itself by exploitation, extraction or destruction,” Faraj said. “City Council is the elected body of closest proximity to the taxpayer, which means that every conversation that I have with leaders about how we spend tax dollars or make strategic investment, we’ll need to have a clear and direct connection to improving the lives of the people who are actually contributing to the tax base.”
Election Day is Nov. 4.
