Democrat Aftab Pureval won a second term as Cincinnati mayor on Tuesday — defeating Cory Bowman in a closely watched election. The lawyer-turned politician is a second-generation immigrant with Indian roots who had made history as the first Asian-American mayor of Cincinnati in 2022. His rival and Republican candidate Cory Bowman is incidentally the half-brother of US Vice President JD Vance.
Pureval was first elected mayor in 2021 and later won the all-party municipal primary in May with more than 80% of the vote. The office is officially nonpartisan, but his party preference is Democratic.
Who is Aftab Pureval?
The Mayor of Cincinnati is an American attorney and politician who has served in the role since January 2022. He was the first Asian American elected to the post and won a second term in office on Wednesday. Pureval was born in Ohio to immigrant parents and studied in Ohio State University. He also had a brief career as an actor — playing a minor role in the 2002 independent film Blue Car. His father Devinder Singh Pureval had moved to the US from Punjab in India while his mother Drenko was a refugee from Tibet.
Pureval began his career as a lawyer for White & Case after earning his Juris Doctor from University of Cincinnati College of Law in 2008.He worked for several years on anti-trust litigation before joining the United States Department of Justice as a special assistant US attorney. He had also served as legal counsel for Procter & Gamble before beginning his political career.
“He was raised in Southwest, Ohio, the son of first-generation Americans. He is making history as Cincinnati’s first Asian-American Mayor. He has made equitable economic growth a top priority of his administration, as well as a comprehensive reform and improvement of public safety, affordable housing, and environmental action,” the Mayoral office website explains.