![Newly elected council member Basheer Jones sits in on a council caucus meeting in November. [Nick Castele / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b9d4050/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x520+0+0/resize/840x446!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F11%2F28%2F1113basheerjones.jpg)
A recount of Cleveland’s Ward 7 council race confirmed the election-night result: Basheer Jones is headed to city council after defeating incumbent T.J. Dow.
Jones defeated Dow by 13 votes, after provisional and late-arriving absentees were counted. Jones won 1,599 votes to Dow’s 1,586.
The races in Ward 1 and Ward 7 headed to automatic recounts because the margin of victory was within half a percentage point. Neither vote total changed after the recount.
Jones is one of five people newly elected to the body. Jasmin Santana and former councilman Joe Jones defeated incumbents in November, and Kevin Bishop and Anthony Hairston won races for open seats.
Council held its last meeting of the year on Monday and will reconvene with its new members in January.
