Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley fended off a progressive challenge from Matthew Ahn in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
As of 11:40 p.m. on Election Night, O’Malley was winning 59% of the vote to Ahn’s 41%.
O’Malley, who gathered with supporters in a private event, declared victory in a statement released on social media. The statement dug in on his campaign line of attack against Ahn, labeling the challenger a “radical progressive” and saying O’Malley “defeated out-of-state radical interests from meddling in our local justice system.”
“Under my leadership, victims’ voices will remain central to our pursuit of justice,” O’Malley said in the statement. “I am resolute in running the Prosecutor’s Office in a manner that ensures public safety and serves the interests of all Cuyahoga County residents.”
Ahn, an attorney and former law professor, criticized O’Malley’s handling of wrongful convictions, death penalty cases and the practice of trying minors as adults. But that message did not overcome the two-term incumbent’s Democratic base, nor O’Malley’s rebuttal that his experience outweighed Ahn’s.
At a watch party on Cleveland’s East Side, Ahn told his backers that his theory of the case would eventually prevail – even if it would take years.
“Things feel impossible until they happen,” Ahn said. “And the same is going to come for this prosecutor’s position. Whether it is in three hours after we’ve all gone to bed, or in four years or eight years or 12 or 20, it’s going to happen. The energy that we have seen over the last seven months proves it.”
A former Cleveland City Council member and Parma law director, O’Malley first won the prosecutor’s seat in 2016. He unseated incumbent Timothy McGinty in the Democratic primary that year amid voter upset over the latter’s handling of the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer. O’Malley faced no opponent for a second term in 2020.
Ahn sought to tap into voter frustration over inequalities and heavy-handedness in the justice system. He posted strong fundraising numbers in 2023 and rallied enough support from Cuyahoga County Democratic Party insiders in January to deprive O’Malley of the party’s endorsement. But O’Malley picked up the fundraising pace this year, fueling a run of radio ads targeting Ahn.
O’Malley’s primary victory in all likelihood secures him a third term. Republican attorney Anthony Alto ran unopposed as a write-in candidate in the GOP primary.