CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio-Among eight majority Black challengers that sought to unseat incumbent three-term Black mayor Frank Jackson in Tuesday's non-partisan primary election for mayor of the largely Black major American city, Cleveland voters chose Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed in second place to the popular Jackson to square off in the upcoming Nov. 7 general election with East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King winning over closest challenger Una Keenon in the five-way Democratic primary in neighboring East Cleveland.

If Jackson wins reelection for a fourth term he will enjoy a likely supportive Cleveland City Council, his top critics, councilmen Jeff Johnson and Zack Reed, off city council and out of politics for now, and come January 2018, Jeff Johnson via his primary election loss for mayor on Tuesday, and Reed in November, unless he can overcome odds to convince Cleveland voters to select him over the veteran Jackson, a former city council president.

The races for mayor in Cleveland and East Cleveland and for city council in Cleveland relative to Tuesday's Sept. 12 primary election are among several races in Cuyahoga County this year, including suburban races.

Voter turnout was low in both Cleveland and East Cleveland and elsewhere in the county, with only 12.95 percent of registered voters casting ballots.

Unlike Cleveland, the mayoral race in the 95 percent Black East Cleveland is partisan and King will face Green Party candidate and activist Devin Branch in November.

Keenon, president of the East Cleveland Board of Education, was endorsed by the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, one of two Black in congress, and King was endorsed by the Plain Dealer Newspaper, Ohio's largest newspaper.

A retired East Cleveland judge and vice president of the Black Women's PAC, Keenon lost to King 33 percent to his 44 percent with 99.5 percent of precincts in the county reporting, according to the unofficial results of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

The outcome in East Cleveland may dictate a pending proposed merger with Cleveland promoted by the establishment and the Plain Dealer Newspaper, among others, a merger that  proponents say is necessary to rescue the nearly bankrupt East Cleveland from despair.

Opponents of the merger, including East Cleveland councilpersons Nathaniel Martin and Barbara Thomas, who supported Keenon, and Keenon herself, argue that the Black impoverished city of some 18,000 people should maintain its autonomy from Cleveland, a city with a population of about 385,000 people.

Both Cleveland and East Cleveland are Democratic strongholds in the heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County that is roughly 29 percent Black and the second largest of 88 counties statewide, behind Franklin County, which includes the capital city of Columbus, Ohio's largest city, followed by Cleveland.

Jackson and Reed out did mayoral candidate Councilman Jeff Johnson,  who came in third and closely behind Reed, both Reed and Jeff Johnson favored for second place behind Jackson.

Reed trailed the mayor by some 5,500 votes, 7,194 to 12, 699.

East side restaurant owner Brandon Chrostowski finished fourth, followed in order by Tony Madalone, Robert Kilo, state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), former East Cleveland mayor Eric Brewer, and Dyrone Smith.

Jackson won in 15 of the city's 17 wards, losing in Reed's ward 2, and in ward 4, both of them east side wards.  He finished with 39 percent of the vote, followed by Reed with 22 percent, Jeff Johnson with 15 percent, and the fourth place Chostowski with nine percent, the remaining five mayoral candidates all finishing with less than six percent each of the vote.

After conceding defeat, Johnson announced that he is endorsing Reed.

Races for municipal court judicial seats up for grabs in Cleveland and in some jurisdictions elsewhere in the county do not have  primary elections, those candidates of whom will face off in the November general election.

In the races for 17 seats on the largely White Cleveland City Council in which Blacks currently lead in the largely Black wards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 there were a few surprises, though Cleveland wards 3,8,11,12.15,16, all of them led by White council persons, did not have primary elections due to only two candidates in the races.

Like the mayoral race in Cleveland, the top two vote-getters for Cleveland City Council seats will square off in the Nov 7 general election.

The outcomes in the largely Black east side wards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10, and the closely watched race in Ward 14 on the largely White east side, are as follows:

Ward 5 Councilman Phyllis Cleveland, a Jackson ally who replaced him on council when he was first elected mayor in 2005 after unseating one-term mayor Jane Campbell, ran first in a three-way election ahead of Richard Starr, a new-comer who got 41 percent of the vote to Cleveland's 53 percent, Cleveland initially running behind in early and absentee voting but picking up steam as the evening progressed and as more votes were counted.

Incumbent Terrell Pruitt came in second in the council race in Ward 1 to former councilman Joe Jones, Jones with  44 percent to Pruitt's 36 percent, followed by Kimberly Brown, a former social worker and unsuccessful candidate for mayor in 2009, in third place.

In Ward 2, the council seat held by outgoing Councilman Reed  who chose to run for mayor and not reelection to city council. saw Kevin Bishop finish first among eight candidates on the primary ballot, followed by second place winner Geoff Fitch.

Longtime Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson, who ran in a crowded field of eight candidates, finished first with 48 percent of the vote, and will face second place finisher Gail Sparks, who came in distant second place with 22 percent.

Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin came in first among seven candidates, Griffin winning with  61 percent of the vote, followed by second place finisher, Joshua Perkins Hamm, who got 14 percent.

Then the city's director of the city's Community Relations Board, Griffin, an avid campaigner, was appointed to his city council seat earlier this year to replace the retiring Mamie Mitchell.

Ward 7 Councilman TJ Dow overcame published criticism from the Plain Dealer to finish first in his six-way race with 41 percent of the vote, ahead of Basheer Jones, who ran second and garnered 38 percent, ahead of  journalist and radio commentator Mansfield Frazier, who took third place.

Popular Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell got 80 percent of the vote to face his closest challenger of four candidates in his race, Anthony Body, who got a dismal nine percent.

Ward 10 Councilman Anthony Hairston, a member of the 11-member Cuyahoga County Council, and Eugene Miller, a previous city councilman who lost to Jeff Johnson in 2010 when city council was reduced from 19 seats to 17 via redistricting, will face off in November for the Ward 10 seat vacated by councilman Jeff Johnson having run for mayor.

Ten people sought the Ward 10 council seat in Tuesday's primary election, the city council race with the most crowed field of candidates.

Hariston finished the primary for Ward 10 with an impressive 46 percent of the vote, compared to Miller's 23 percent.

The closely watched race on the city's largely White west side in Ward 14 brought a competitive race between Councilman Brian Cummins, who is White, and Jasmin Santana, a Latino, both of them neck and neck with Cummins finishing behind Santana 33 percent to her 35 percent.

Former councilman Nelson Cintron, a perennial candidate, finished third among the four candidates in the race in Ward 14.

ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and the KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com