BREAKING NEWS: John Michael Ryan Wins Dem Nod to take on Kasich Juvenile Court Appointee

Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Michael John Ryan won the nomination of the county Democratic Party this morning on the second ballot, defeating party insider Michael O’Malley, chief assistant to county prosecutor Bill Mason. Ryan won 223 votes on the second ballot to 170 for O’Malley.

Ryan won a surprising plurality on the first ballot, which had five candidates. He garnered 150 votes, followed by O’Malley at 139, and John Lawson with 75. Two other candidates —  Terease Neff and William McGinty, with 18 and 11 votes — were by Party rule dropped from further consideration.

As members of the Party’s executive committee began to caucus for the second ballot among the remaining three candidates, Lawson stepped forward to announce he was withdrawing his name. Ryan was the clear beneficiary of Lawson’s decision, winning the overwhelming majority of Lawson’s first-ballot support.

Ryan delivered an emotional acceptance speech and asked for the Party’s assistance in taking on Kasich nominee Anjanette C Arabian Whitman in this November’s general election. Whitman’s first day on the Juvenile Court bench will be Monday, June 18.

The vacancy was created by the death of Judge Peter Sikora on April 18. For more background see here, here and here.

The process and the result have major implications for local county politics. We will talk about that in the next couple of days.