Voters in Akron, Columbus re-elect long-time mayors

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Voters in two of Ohio’s largest cities easily re-elected two long-term incumbent mayors.

Democratic Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman won his re-election bid in the state’s largest city.

In Akron, the Democrat who has led the city since 1987 has won his bid for a seventh term.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic defeated Republican attorney Jennifer Hensal on Tuesday.

Plusquellic is Akron’s longest-serving mayor. He survived a recall vote two years ago. Critics who led the recall effort called him wasteful and alienating, but voters chose to keep him by a nearly 3-1 ratio.

Plusquellic has dealt with contentious contract talks and layoffs in recent years but said he wanted to continue fighting for Akron residents.

Hensal has worked as a municipal lawyer or prosecutor in Wadsworth, Seville, Lodi and Medina. She said Akron needed new leadership.

In Columbus, Coleman defeated a former police sergeant to win his fourth term Tuesday, paving the way for the Democrat to become the city’s longest continuously serving mayor.

Coleman would earn that distinction if he serves out his full term in Ohio’s largest city, and he has said he will.

Coleman beat out Republican political newcomer Earl Smith. The 56-year-old Coleman, a former city councilman, easily won his second and third terms as mayor in 2003 and 2007.

The race was one between two men passionate about preventing violence and crime in a city that has grown in size and saw its population increase to about 787,000 in 2010, a 10.6 percent increase from 2000.

“We’re a city that is well-positioned to be greater than it already is,” Coleman said before the election. “There are still many challenges, and we shouldn’t be satisfied for our successes in the past.”

In Hillsboro, a veteran standup comedian has been elected mayor of the small southwest Ohio city.

With Hillsboro reporting complete, unofficial results, Drew Hastings had 773 votes to 440 for John Levo, a retired banker and former city councilman.

The 57-year-old Hastings moved from Los Angeles to the community 50 miles east of Cincinnati six years ago, buying a cattle farm. He became increasingly involved in the city of 6,600 residents, buying and renovating several downtown buildings.

Hastings won a three-way Republican primary in May. Levo, who’s 65, filed as an independent. No Democrats ran to succeed retiring two-term incumbent Richard Zink, a Democrat.

Hastings has appeared on Comedy Central and other TV and radio shows and in comedy clubs for years. He starts a four-year term in January.