With an ambitious first term completed, Mayor Justin Bibb now looks ahead to another four years after handily securing Tuesday's mayoral race.
"The best is yet to come," Bibb told supporters during his victory speech.
When he first set out on the campaign trail in 2021, Bibb, the city's first millennial mayor, made lofty promises to voters; reduce violent crime across the city, reimagine the two-waterfront Downtown, bring development and jobs to the historically redlined Southeast Side, all while maintaining basic city services and modernizing City Hall.
Bibb dealt with unforeseen obstacles he now has to continue to manage, including the Cleveland Browns' decision to move out of the city and unprecedented federal funding cuts from President Donald Trump's administration.
In his victory speech, Bibb said he is up for the task and "the work remains."
Earlier this year, Bibb began pitching a new campaign slogan, "the Cleveland ERA." The Cleveland ERA (economic resurgence in action) highlights accomplishments of his first administration, such as a shovel-ready sites fund and small business support, while also looking to build on those policies and projects ahead.
"The results are an endorsement of the progress that we've made," Bibb said. "[Voters] have given us another mandate to move our city forward with urgency."
Bibb, a 38-year-old Democrat who also serves as the president of the Democratic Mayors Association, has been an up-and-comer in the political party. He has publicly taken the Trump administration and its policies to task, claiming that "Washington is not coming to save us" in his final State of the City address of his first term.
"Despite the chaos that we see coming out of D.C. these days, despite the cruelty we see in our national politics, Cleveland will always be protected by the people," Bibb said. "Because government doesn't change cities, we the people change cities."
He doubled down on promises to make Cleveland safer and improve education.
"The work remains to have safer streets; block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood," Bibb said. "And the work remains now more than ever to make sure the next generation of our children, regardless of what zip code they come from, have access to a high-quality education in our city."
Bibb only had one challenger, marketing consultant and registered Republican Laverne Gore. Gore has never held elected office but has run in several elections including for mayor in 2009.
Bibb raised over $1.1 million ahead of the election before spending, as compared to Gore's $1,500, according to campaign finance data. Gore also took out a $10,000 personal loan. Ahead of the general election, Bibb still had about $405,000. Gore had about $250.
