Throughout his third campaign for mayor, Frank Jackson told voters he needed four more years to solidify changes to the public school system and economic development in the city.
Opponent Ken Lanci said the mayor had failed to improve the schools or thwart crime. The mayor’s challenger often drove his point home in unconventional ways, holding a gospel concert this summer and, recently, lighting himself on fire in a flame retardant suit in a bid to set a world record.
While Lanci offered Jackson a spirited opposition, he didn’t have the votes to best the mayor. Jackson defeated him 66 percent to 34 percent.
Ready to declare victory at his election night party, Jackson greeted supporters with a trademark line that critics like Lanci have sometimes harped on.
“I guess it is what it is, right?” he said.
Jackson told supporters he saw his job as alleviating the burdens faced by Cleveland residents.
“It is our duty and responsibility as public officials never to add to that burden, but to relieve that burden in what we do," Jackson said. "And that if we add a feather, then we have added to the burden of the people.”
Lanci closed his election night party to most media, but did allow a reporter from WTAM 1100 inside.
“I mean, I can’t say I wish him luck over the next four years, because I know what the last eight years was like," Lanci said in remarks broadcast by WTAM 1100. "And so all I can do is be prayerful for everybody and that somehow some way they figure out how to make schools better and make the streets safer.”
Jackson now faces a challenging four years ahead as he seeks to further an ambitious school reform plan and bring more jobs to the city.
