Ginther to face off against critic Motil in Columbus mayoral race
Unlike four years ago when he ran unopposed for mayor of Ohio’s largest city, Andrew J. Ginther has a single opponent for the next nine months of campaigning — Joe Motil, a longtime city tax-abatement critic and homeless advocate.
Both Ginther and Motil were certified to the ballot by the Franklin County Board of Elections, meaning they garnered at least 1,000 valid signatures from registered Columbus voters on their election petitions, the board announced Tuesday.
Dropped from the mayoral contest for a lack of valid signatures was Carrie J. Griffin, of the 4900 block of Keelson Drive, who couldn’t be reached for comment when she filed 1,072 signatures two weeks ago. It is not uncommon for hundreds of a petition signatures to be disqualified during verification for various reasons under state law.
Having only two candidates means the race will skip over the May primary and head straight to the November general election, since the primary is intended to determine the top two vote-getters who would face each other in a head-tohead runoff.
The two-term mayor, whose last campaign finance report showed him sitting on about $800,000 as of last fall, says he will run on accomplishments.
“It has been my privilege to lead Columbus during a time of incredible growth, reform and change,” he said in a written statement released by his campaign Tuesday. “I am focused on building on the progress we’ve made as a city and ensuring our entire city shares in the growing opportunities we’re creating together.
“To get there, we must continue to improve neighborhood safety, increase affordability for families across our entire city, and provide city services that empower our residents and businesses to thrive.”
Motil said Tuesday that he understands that he will be vastly outspent by Ginther, but “I don’t think cash is going to be the deciding factor in this election.” Rather, the issue is that policy “is run by developers and corporations in this town.”
“I think people are sick of it and it’s not getting us anywhere,” Motil said.
He plans to campaign on increasing public and local private funding for affordable housing, eliminating tax breaks to developments in economically healthy parts of town, and moving away from short-term homeless shelters in favor of longer-term “villages.”
In the City Council race, only two of nine candidates will have an opponent in the nine new residential districts they will compete in for the first time ever.
Only one Council member can be elected from each district, but — unlike a ward — voters citywide can vote for all nine seats.
The opposed candidate are in District 4, where incumbent Emmanuel Remy will face Adrienne Hood, and in District 5, where incumbent Nick Bankston will face Farxaan Jeyte, formerly known as Abdi Jama.
If both of those two challenged incumbents were to lose, it would mean that Council would be effectively controlled by a five-person majority of new, firsttime members. That’s because three new candidates are running unopposed in their residential districts: Chris Wyche (District 1); Nancy Day-achauer (District 2); and Melissa Green (District 6).
Four incumbents also are unopposed: President Shannon Hardin (District 9); President Pro Tem Rob Dorans (District 3); Shayla Favor (District 7); and Lourdes Barroso de Padilla (District 8).
wbush@gannett.com