Many Americans were inspired to see Vice President J.D. Vance overcome childhood poverty on his way to the U.S. Senate and now the White House. Now, a family member is seeking to emulate his half-brother.
Cory Bowman had just finished watching Vance take the oath of office in January when he ventured home and decided he, too, could become an executive officeholder, albeit on a smaller level. It was with that inspiration that he launched his campaign for mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, earlier this month.
The 36-year-old, who shares a father with Vance, is already a known quantity to his neighbors. He volunteers with a local evangelical church in the city’s West End and later opened a coffee shop. Running for office was the last thing on his mind until this year.
“There was nobody that pushed me into it, nobody that told me that this is a pathway I should go,” he said in an interview one recent morning. “But I just thought this would be a great way to help impact the city in another realm as well, because that’s always been the focus.”
The task before Bowman is tall. Cincinnati is a primarily Democrat-heavy enclave in red Ohio, but it’s not like the Vance clan hasn’t overcome the odds before. During his first successful campaign for the Senate, the vice president defeated Josh Mandel, an establishment figure from the Tea Party era who previously served as the state’s treasurer, in the Republican primary.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval is the city’s Democratic mayor, and at 42 years old, has plenty of fight left. The lawyer and former federal prosecutor is seen as a rising star within Ohio’s Democratic Party, and he decisively won his last reelection in 2021 with two-thirds of the vote, according to the AP.
Bowman said he chose to run for mayor primarily because it was the most available office without a Republican challenger. He will compete with procurement professional Brian Frank in a three-way primary next month.
“I think it’s fantastic that I’m not running unopposed,” Pureval said, saying it’s important for Cincinnati voters to be given a choice at the ballot box. Still, he pointed to Bowman having not voted in the city’s last mayoral election.
“He doesn’t necessarily have a track record or a deep commitment to the city, or relationships in that way,” the Democrat added.
The Vance family member grew up in Hamilton, a rural hamlet about 25 miles outside of the city, but says he “always considered Cincinnati our home, this area our home, this (Ohio River) valley.”
He explained that the family bounced back and forth between Ohio and Florida during his childhood to accommodate the career of his father, Donald Bowman, a custom home builder who died in 2023.
In his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vice President Vance recalls his half-siblings being “basically strangers” until they were in their teens. Then, Bowman said, Vance took the initiative to gather the offspring of Donald Bowman together for a first family meetup. He recalled the two playing a game of pickup basketball.
“As far as the relationship with JD, I tell people he’s my brother, he’s not a political counselor to me,” Bowman said. “He is not somebody that planted me here in this city.”
Still, the two share a conservative worldview. Bowman said he plans to run on opposing the city’s sanctuary status for illegal immigrants but is also keeping his focus more local, pledging to improve city services like pothole repairs and safe streets.
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