'After Jackson: Cleveland's Next Mayor,' Our New Podcast, Launches July 14

It’s time to start paying attention to the Cleveland mayoral race, if you weren’t already.

Even in the sluggish, humid days of midsummer, the contest to lead this city is being waged in living rooms, on social media, at Cleveland doorsteps, in grisly mailers, in parades and at must-see neighborhood forums.  

Justin Bibb is trying to win over voting blocs new and old — the young urban professionals and the homeowning grandparents.

Basheer Jones is urging anyone who’s ever heard him speak at a high school commencement to get out and vote for him.

Kevin Kelley is mustering the troops of the building trades — and tapping a healthy campaign bank account — to muscle his way out of the primary.  

Sandra Williams, backed by a corps of Statehouse colleagues, is going door-to-door telling voters about the money she’s brought home to the district.

Dennis Kucinich, straddling the decades of Cleveland history, has uncapped his pen to add a new chapter to his political story.

Zack Reed has decamped from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office and is working to improve upon his 2017 second-place finish.

Ross DiBello, the World Series of Poker alum, has shoe-leathered himself onto the ballot and into the conversation.

I am inviting you to join us on this campaign trail by subscribing to our new podcast, After Jackson: Cleveland’s Next Mayor. I'm hosting and producing the podcast and I’ve been out on the trail with each of the candidates, gathering information you need to know.

Each week, we’ll drop you in the center of Cleveland’s first race without an incumbent mayor in 20 years. You’ll meet the candidates, hear them work to persuade voters and learn about the issues at the heart of this contest.

And we’ll tell you how the candidates answered your questions at candidate forums Ideastream Public Media is producing with The City Club of Cleveland on Aug. 10 and 17. In fact, yours can be one of the questions they answer. Submit your question for the candidates here.

In just two months, in the Sept. 14 primary, voters will whittle this field of seven down to two. On Nov. 2, Cleveland will pick its first new mayor in 16 years.

Whatever the outcome, this is a history-making election. So come along with us on the journey.