Kerry McCormack, who has represented the near West Side of Cleveland for nine years on City Council, will not run for another term this year.
The Ward 3 council member made the announcement on social media Friday morning. He is the second West Side incumbent to forgo a reelection bid. Ward 15’s Jenny Spencer is also leaving at the end of the term.
“There is no greater privilege than being elected by the people and the community that you love,” McCormack said in his social media post, thanking people who had supported him over the years.
McCormack’s departure leaves an open seat in the newly drawn Ward 7, which covers much of the Ohio City, Tremont and Detroit-Shoreway neighborhoods. The council member did not endorse a successor in his video.
He does not currently plan to step down early. But if he were to resign for another job, he would appoint a replacement who did not intend to run for the seat, he told Signal Cleveland. It’s a common practice — though a controversial one — for outgoing members to step down early, appointing successors who then run for the seat as incumbents.
An advisor to Mayor Justin Bibb is already lining up a bid for the job. Tremont resident Austin Davis, an attorney and Bibb’s senior policy advisor, formed a campaign committee in January to start raising money for a council bid in the new Ward 7.
McCormack, 36, was appointed to City Council in 2016 to replace Joe Cimperman, who left his seat to become CEO of Global Cleveland. Before joining council, McCormack worked for the nonprofit development corporation Ohio City Inc. He also helped with Sherrod Brown’s 2012 U.S. Senate campaign as an organizer for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Seen as a contender for council president in 2021, McCormack later threw his support behind Blaine Griffin. He joined Griffin’s leadership team along with Ward 14 Council Member Jasmin Santana.
McCormack was the only council member to endorse Bibb in the 2021 mayoral election. He advocated for turning the West Side Market over to a nonprofit, an idea that Bibb carried forward as mayor.
