The 1979 Cleveland mayoral election took place on November 6, 1979, to elect the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. George Voinovich defeated incumbent mayor Dennis Kucinich. The election was officially nonpartisan, with the top two candidates from the October 2 primary advancing to the general election.

Background

Kucinich had a turbulent mayoralty since he was elected in 1977. He had, in 1978, survived Cleveland's first-ever mayoral

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls ...

Primary

As election season approached, Kucinich decided to run again in the mayoral primary. In April, state senator,

Charles L. Butts Charles Lewis "Charlie" Butts (born February 16, 1942) is a former Democratic politician, who served as a member of the Ohio Senate from 1975 to 1990. Education and early career Butts attended Oberlin high school then Oberlin College in Ohio. ...

announced that he would enter the race. On July 5, council majority leader,

Basil Russo Basil M. Russo (born March 10, 1947) is an American attorney, politician of the Democratic Party, and judge. He was majority leader of the Cleveland City Council. Later he served as a judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and a ju ...

joined the race. Finally, after off-and-on remarks of his candidacy, Republican George Voinovich, who initially supported Kucinich in 1977, decided to give up his position as

lieutenant governor of Ohio The position of lieutenant governor of Ohio was established in 1852. The lieutenant governor becomes Governor of Ohio, governor if the governor resigns, dies in office or is removed via impeachment conviction. Before 1852, the president of the Oh ...

to run on July 26. Unlike the 1977 race, however, there were very few debates. ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

'' endorsed Voinovich while ''

The Cleveland Press The ''Cleveland Press'' was a daily American newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio from November 2, 1878, through June 17, 1982. From 1928 to 1966, the paper's editor was Louis B. Seltzer. Known for many years as one of the country's most in ...

'' endorsed Butts. On primary night at Kucinich headquarters, "the band played the theme from ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...

''," while Kucinich spoke of the race in the form of a football metaphor: "We are trailing at the half, but what counts is who's winning at the end of the fourth quarter." However, in the primary, the mayor finished second to Voinovich, 47,743 to 36,515 votes. Russo and Butts were eliminated.

General election campaign

Most expected a heated campaign between the two politicians of South Slavic descent (Kucinich being a

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

and Voinovich a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

). Early in the race, Kucinich jumped on a quote that Voinovich made to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on August 26: "I like

fat cat Fat cat is a slang term for a wealthy person, originally used to describe a rich political donor. Fat Cat may also refer to: * Fat Cat (singer), a South Korean singer, also known as Defconn Girl * Fat Cat, Norwich, a pub in Norwich, England * Fa ...

s. I want as many in Cleveland as I can get. Cleveland needs their tax dollars and the jobs they bring." In response, Kucinich stated: "George Voinovich has proven conclusively...–he is the candidate of the fat cats...and he would love to become the mayor of the fat cats so he can repay their generosity." Part of Kucinich's campaign tactics involved distributing political

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

s throughout the city entitled "Who Owns Voinovich?" The cover illustration depicted three fat cats with Voinovich in front of them with handfuls of money. However, everything came to a virtual halt when Voinovich's nine-year-old daughter, Molly, was struck by a van and killed.Swanstrom, p. 219. Kucinich could no longer continue his aggressive campaigning against Voinovich. Polls, which were already leaning in Voinovich's favor, now showed overwhelming support for the former lieutenant governor. On November 6, he won the general election with 94,541 votes to 73,755. Of the 33 wards of Cleveland at the time, Kucinich only won eight.

Endorsements

Results

Primary election

General election

References

{{1979 United States elections 1970s in Cleveland Cleveland mayoral

Dennis Kucinich Mayoral elections in Cleveland Non-partisan elections November 1979 in the United States