Here are the candidates that are running in the Akron Ohio May 2, 2023 primaries:
Ward 1
Nancy Holland vs. Jude Yovichin
Ward 2
Incumbent, first-term Councilman Phil Lombardo is running unopposed. No Republicans filed.
Ward 3
Margo Sommerville vs. Damarios Walker in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Ward 4
Russ Neal vs. Will Blake vs. Jan Davis in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Ward 5
Johnnie Hannah vs. Shamoriea Hilliard in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Ward 6
Incumbent, first-term Councilman Brad McKitrick is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Ward 7
Incumbent Donnie Kammer is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Ward 8
James Hardy vs. Sage Lewis in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Ward 9
Tina Boyes vs. Susan Culver in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican Micah Townsend in November.
Ward 10
First-term incumbent Sharon Connor is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. No Republicans filed.
Republicans at-large (3 are chosen)
Cynthia Blake
Vyrone Finney
Democrats at-large (3 are chosen)
Ginger Baylor
Jeff Fusco
Linda Omobien
Fran Wilson
Derrick Hall
Jarreua McClendon
Ronald Smith
Johnny Osby Jr.
Lamont Porter
MAYOR
Seven Democrats and one Republican are running to be the next mayor of Akron.
Republicans:
Jim Isabella
Democrats:
Mark Greer
Shammas Malik
Keith Mills
Tara Mosley
Joshua Schaffer
Marco Sommerville
Jeff Wilhite
I'm going to try to get as many of these people on my podcast as possible. If you see this message and you want to schedule a time please message me.
All of us still have to have our signatures validate. So it's very likely some of these people will not make it past the signature validation step. We'll learn that within the next 2 week.
Some people will drop out. But their name will still be on the ballot, if they make it past the signature validation step.
Some of us are running for office primarily to help make Akron a better place. Some of us are running for office primarily for the power and glory. All of us have some mix of both motivations.
Democracy is a mess.
The kind of person that runs for political office is narcissistic, has an overblown ego of self-importance and has a certain amount of mental illness. I'd love to know how many of us have significant "love me daddy" issues.
But who else is going to run for office? Anyone in their right mind will take a pass on this. Who needs all the personal scrutiny and public whoring that is required to run for office? Only people that have some deep hole of need-to-be-loved in their soul, that's who.
A well-centered person would have absolutely no interest in this path.
BUT GOD BLESS US INSANE PEOPLE THAT DO THIS!
If no one would run for office Democracy literally could not exist.
Just because a person is a narcissist, soulfully needy and has a massive ego does not make them bad. They're just screwed up in a certain way. We're all screwed up on planet Earth. How could we not be? Have you seen this place?
A person with significant emotional need won't find contentment by winning one election. Nothing external ever actually fills that hole. And we're too insecure to truly believe that we can fill that hole ourselves by working on actual self-acceptance and personal love of who we are.
So they'll work their ass off to continue to get people to love them. They'll be constantly looking around for someone, ANYONE, to tell them they are doing a good job.
All the people on this list will work hard and do the best they can. Don't question their commitment to Akron or whether or not they are a good or bad person. They will do their best going down a path that they feel is best for the city. That is the absolute truth. No narcissist wants to go down in history as being a person who did a terrible job and was out to destroy the city. That isn't how it works.
We all just have different ideas about how to make Akron better. Honestly, who knows what will actually work and what won't. There are infinite variables that play into all this. Most good leaders just got lucky for being in the right place at the right time with the right idea.
And this takes me to you.
In a Democracy it is actually YOU that leads this entire mess. YOU have to decide who is the right person for the job right now.
There is incredible importance on picking the right person. Unfortunately, you are so busy with the million other things in your life that it's hard to fit in being a Democracy scholar on the side. BUT YOU HAVE TO TRY.
Some of you are amazing at understanding the nuances of all these people. Most people aren't.
Those of you that are well educated in all this PLEASE share your thoughts and reasons with people in person and on social media. Your insight matters. (You are the few people that have read this far in this post 🙂
DON'T BE AFRAID TO FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY.
Talk about politics. We need more talk about politics ESPECIALLY LOCALLY.
Let me finish by saying: Thank you for all of you that had the courage to stand up for this Democratic process in Akron. It's amazing that you have done it. It's incredibly brave of you to run for political office. Good luck and may the best person for the job win.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis