Zack Reed

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Zack Reed

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Cleveland City Council Ward 2

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Elections and appointments

Last election

September 14, 2021

Contact

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Zack Reed was a member of the Cleveland City Council in Ohio, representing Ward 2. He assumed office in 2000. He left office in 2017.

Reed ran for election for Mayor of Cleveland in Ohio. He lost in the primary on September 14, 2021.

Biography

Reed worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources from 1985 until 1996. He then worked in youth services programming from 1996 until joining the Cleveland City Council in 2001. Reed ran for Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, in 2017 and advanced to the general election where he received 40.5% of the vote. Following his mayoral campaign, Reed became the Minority Affairs Coordinator for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) where he worked until 2021.

Elections

2021

See also: Mayoral election in Cleveland, Ohio (2021)

General election

General election for Mayor of Cleveland

Justin Bibb defeated Kevin Kelley in the general election for Mayor of Cleveland on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Justin Bibb (Nonpartisan)	63.0	36,880
		Kevin Kelley (Nonpartisan)	37.0	21,696

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 58,576
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Cleveland

The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of Cleveland on September 14, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Justin Bibb (Nonpartisan)	27.2	10,901
✔		Kevin Kelley (Nonpartisan)	19.2	7,702
		Dennis Kucinich (Nonpartisan)	16.5	6,595
		Zack Reed (Nonpartisan)	12.1	4,840
		Basheer Jones (Nonpartisan)	12.0	4,801
		Sandra Williams (Nonpartisan)	11.4	4,572
		Ross DiBello (Nonpartisan)	1.6	639

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,050
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Landry Simmons Jr. (Nonpartisan)

2017

See also: Mayoral election in Cleveland, Ohio (2017)

The city of Cleveland, Ohio, held elections on November 7, 2017. A primary election occurred on September 12, 2017. The mayor and all 17 seats on the city council were up for election. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 29, 2017.

Incumbent Frank Jackson defeated Zack Reed in the Mayor of Cleveland general election.

Mayor of Cleveland, General Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Frank Jackson Incumbent	59.52%	36,196
Zack Reed	40.46%	24,605
Write-in votes	0.02%	15
Total Votes		60,816
Source: Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, "General Election Official Results," November 22, 2017

The following candidates ran in the Mayor of Cleveland primary election.

Mayor of Cleveland, Nonpartisan Primary Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Frank Jackson Incumbent	38.66%	12,968
Zack Reed	22.00%	7,378
Jeffrey Johnson	15.44%	5,178
Brandon Chrostowski	9.45%	3,171
Robert Kilo	5.21%	1,748
Tony Madalone	4.57%	1,534
Bill Patmon	2.67%	894
Eric Brewer	1.45%	486
Dyrone Smith	0.40%	135
Write-in votes	0.15%	50
Total Votes		33,542
Source: Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, "Official Election Results," September 12, 2017

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Zack Reed did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Reed's campaign website stated the following:

“	Zack’s Vision We live in one of the most amazing cities in the country. Cleveland is affordable. Our higher education institutions are top tier. Health care resources are second to none ⎯ and our natural resources like Lake Erie, parks and entertainment districts are the envy of many. Yet, with all we have going for us Cleveland is plagued by poverty, violence, and lack of opportunity. We have been held back by our city leader’s overwhelming lack of leadership and vision. Inaction has become the status quo ⎯ and every day we pay the price. Zack Reed understands what we’re up against. The status quo is never good enough. We need real leadership that will secure a strong, sustainable future for all of us. As our mayor, Zack Reed will implement real, lasting changes creating… A Healthier Community Prosperity starts by keeping us healthy and safe. The infant mortality rate is the highest in the country. Fresh groceries are hard to come by in many neighborhoods, families are starving and lead paint is poisoning our children. This must change. Zack Reed understands that strong communities start by overcoming the challenges that are holding us back. As Mayor, leaders from every aspect of the community will be brought to the table to build and execute a plan that secures a safe, healthy future for all Clevelanders. Safer Neighborhoods We must improve the safety of all of our neighborhoods. This starts by hiring more officers, increasing police efficiency, response times, training ⎯ and taking strong measures that hold them accountable. The community must be part of the solution and trust our safety forces. From the Chief on down, there will be direct accountability. Community policing and proper training is a start, but our safety officers must be supported and uphold the highest professional standards. Under Zack Reed’s leadership, our police operations will be fully assessed and improvements will be made from the bottom up ⎯ ensuring accountability and making every neighborhood safer. Zack Reed Safety Plan A Stronger Workforce Growing our economy and expanding opportunities starts by strengthening our workforce. It’s not simply about preparing students, we must help residents of every age build the skills for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Cleveland Public Schools should be something people are running to ⎯ not running away from. It’s among the most expensive districts, with one of the lowest performances. Improving the district begins with ensuring accountability for every member of our school board. As Mayor, Zack Reed will hold the Board and CEO accountable for every aspect of the district. Cuyahoga Community College is one of our greatest assets and the opportunities to help train workers are boundless. Through public and private partnerships, we will expend core-skill training programs and teach real, current skills that can be used to start a career today. We’ll seek new ways to train for the real jobs that offer a living wage. We’ll cover the spectrum from construction, to office technology and the jobs of tomorrow that are fueling a thriving gig economy. And we’ll help make sure people are able to build practical financial skills so every hard-earned dollar is well managed. A Strong Economic Future Our local economy is not keeping up. Cleveland must be the go-to choice for entrepreneurs, businesses and major corporations. We are second only to NYC in terms of fortune 500 companies within 45-minutes of each other ⎯ yet we constantly struggle to keep the very companies that were born here. We must do better. We need to bring our business leaders together with our budding small businesses, health care leaders and universities to build and implement a real, lasting plan that gets Cleveland back on track. Our infrastructure must be overhauled. Basics like roads and streetlights need to be improved and every resident must have affordable access to a reliable high speed internet connection. Ohio is among the top spots for the development and manufacturing of next generation environmental technologies, yet we are missing the boat. There is no better place to expand this segment of the economy than right here in Cleveland and in turn we can use it to help protect our greatest resource – Lake Erie.	”
—Zack Reed's campaign website (2021)

2017

Reed's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Job creation

• Excerpt: "My administration will secure public and private dollars to train formerly incarcerated individuals returning to neighborhoods throughout our city. I will implement the “REBUILDING HOMES & REBUILDING NEIGHBORHOODS CAMPAIGN”. My administration will be more aggressive to ensure that any contractor working on a City of Cleveland contract is fully compliance of the “Fannie Lewis Law” which works to ensure that the residents of the City of Cleveland are a part of the workforce that is changing the landscape of our city."

Public safety

• Excerpt: "I pledge to hire 400 new police offices to be utilized specifically for community based policing. These men and women will patrol neighborhoods where they are needed most. We will place surveillance cameras throughout the City of Cleveland starting in neighborhoods with the highest rates of crime and violence. Crime and the perception of crime keeps neighborhoods from reaching their fullest potential."

Leadership & engagement

• Excerpt: "My administration will conduct regularly scheduled “Town Hall” meetings in neighborhoods throughout Cleveland to give citizens the opportunity to voice their concerns and participate in the process to make their neighborhoods safer and more prosperous. We will work with business leaders to develop leaders for tomorrow that will stabilize neighborhoods and cultivate leadership for the future."

See also

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Cleveland City Council, Ward 2 2000–2017	Succeeded by Kevin Bishop