The filing deadline for Cleveland mayor is still more than five months away but Cleveland City Councilman Jeff Johnson is leaving nothing to chance, throwing his hat in the ring on Tuesday.
"So we start the process, a ten-month campaign with no money today," said Johnson, "but we believe ultimately we will raise the money, raise the support to make this happen."
Johnson, who has served on city council for two terms will not seek re-election to his seat to run for mayor on what he calls a neighborhood first agenda.
"Neighborhoods matter, we cannot continue to just focus on downtown we can't continue to think Cleveland is in a renaissance simply because we know how to throw a party for the Republicans or simply because we can build beautiful buildings or have multi-million dollar sports arenas for millionaires," he said.
Johnson's time on council is part of the second act in his political career, the first act included time in the State Senate in 90's when he was a rising star in the Democratic Party before being charged and convicted of extortion and sentenced to 15 months, the conviction was later expunged.
"I want folks to look at my record, I don't want them to ignore the fact that I made mistakes in the late 90's, I paid for my mistakes and had to rebuild my career," Johnson said from the steps of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
"If my opponents use it I'll just simply say they're right, I take responsibility, now let's talk to you about what you're going to do and what you have done or did not do for the citizens of Cleveland."
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has not decided whether or not he will seek a fourth term which if he won would make his the longest serving mayor in Cleveland history.
"All the rumors say that he is," Johnson said. "I'm entering assuming that Frank Jackson will be one of my opponents absolutely."
Jackson was council president in 2005 when he challenged incumbent Mayor Jane Campbell. He was the lead vote-getter in the primary and beat Campbell in the general election by 10 points. He would beat his 2009 mayoral opponent Bill Patmon by a 3 to 1 margin and his 2013 opponent Ken Lanci 66 percent to 34 percent.
"I have a lot of respect for Mayor Jackson, I have a lot of respect for the others as well but we're going to fight over the issues, we're going to talk over the issues," John said. "We're going to go into the neighborhoods and we're going to say let's look at the last 11 years have you gotten better, how's your life been the last 11 years and I know the answer to that question."
