Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren said he will not resign, and the accusations of antisemitism against his wife are false, during a public event Monday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Fairmont Boulevard.
"I’m not one to resign because people who have biases that are influencing their view of my actual accomplishments are telling me to," Seren said.
The embattled mayor has been at the center of controversy since May when a former city employee filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, alleging Seren enabled a hostile work environment.
In the complaint and a lawsuit filed days later, the former special assistant to the mayor, Patrick Costigan, said the mayor's wife, Natalie McDaniel, made antisemitic and homophobic comments while acting as a de facto representative of the mayor.
The lawsuit includes claims that McDaniel, who is not a city employee, used derogatory language, mimicked stereotypical accents and claims that McDaniel referred to the City’s Planning Commission Chair, who is an Orthodox Jew, as a "brood mare."
Seren acknowledged Monday he will not run for reelection because he did not collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the September mayoral primary ballot.
“I wasn’t sure if I should do this, if I should put myself through this, if I should put my family through more of this,” Seren said. “I took a lot to feel like it made sense to try.”
Candidates that did make the September 9 primary ballot are Deanna Bremer Fisher, Marty Gelfand, Laura Kingsley Hong, Jim Petras and David Russell, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Seren primarily spent Monday's more than two-hour-long meeting discussing an investigation of a human resources complaint against McDaniel by a former city employee, authored by the law firm Mansour Gavin.
The employee said McDaniel shouted and used profanity during a March 13 incident that left her uncomfortable and trembling.
The report, released by the city Tuesday and paid for by the city, found that there is evidence that McDaniel "cursed, screamed, and was otherwise inappropriate and unprofessional," but said she did not create an "unlawful hostile work environment" because the behavior did not target anyone.
The report found that Seren and McDaniel did create a “very uncomfortable work environment.”
Investigators found the mayor’s wife should not be a regular visitor to the mayor’s office and recommended the mayor refrain from involving his wife in the workplace.
The report does not address the allegations in the civil rights complaints or the lawsuit filed by Costigan.
Seren has previously denied the accusation of antisemitism. In May, he posted a 15-minute video to social media responding to the allegations, where he denounced antisemitism and defended his wife.
On Friday, he said in a statement that he was the victim of political opposition rooted in racial prejudice.
He expected opposition as mayor, he wrote.
"That comes with the job and it’s fair. But what is not fair, what is not acceptable, is the persistence of a false and deeply harmful trope: that I, as a Black man, lack the intelligence, the work ethic, and the moral character to lead," the statement read.
At the meeting, he explained the racism he experiences as mayor.
“I don’t need somebody to say I hate Black people in order to experience anti-Blackness,” Seren said. “The racism in Cleveland Heights is expressed in the way that a progressive or liberal city expresses it and that is by second guessing someone, maybe with more expertise on a particular subject, who just happens to be Black, but the giving a great deal of deference and benefit of doubt to someone with less expertise on a particular subject who just happens to be white.”
Cleveland Heights City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting at the same time as the mayor's special meeting.
"When you use race as a shield from criticism or accountability, all you do is sow mistrust in this community, and that is what the mayor has done and continually does," said Councilmember Craig Cobb during that meeting.
Seren only took questions from people who agreed to sit next to him on stage during the public event.
Jeanne Gordon, who is petitioning to recall the mayor, was one of the questioners.
“To ask me to come up there to be able to be heckled by his supporters is outrageous,” Gordon said. “I don’t want this for him. I don’t want this for his wife. But they should have made better decisions.”
The crowd also included a number of Seren's supporters, including Mary Seawright, who said she's been living in Cleveland Heights for 50 years.
“The mayor is a young, Black man. He has a brilliant mind. He is doing a great job,” Seawright said. “I am proud of my young, Black people. When they are educated, they go into fields — people attack them for no reason.”
The accusations against his wife were an attempt by "hateful" individuals seeking to "obstruct" his agenda.
"They have attacked the love of my life, my wife. She has been falsely accused in an attempt to tear me down," he wrote in the statement. "But I have evidence proving her innocence and will share that with the community."
On Friday, Cleveland Heights' city council unanimously passed a resolution calling for an outside investigation into Seren and urged Seren to resign. Earlier this month, some residents launched a petition to recall the mayor from office, citing the allegations of antisemitism, high staff turnover and the submission of an incomplete 2025 budget, which the petition says lacked required information for city council to review.
