CPT • BREAKING NEWS: Marty Sweeney to join County Council after winning County Dems' unit vote

Cuyahoga Politics Today

By R. T. Andrews

Martin Sweeney at Cuyahoga County Democratic Party District 3 Executive Committee Meeting on Zoom

Former Cleveland city council president Martin J. Sweeney was selected to fill the Cuyahoga County District 3 seat left vacant by the resignation last month of County Council president Dan Brady. The closely contested vote was conducted this morning over Zoom.

Sweeney won a second ballot victory over attorney Brendan Heil, 35-27. Ryan Ross came in third with one vote.

33 votes were required to win the nod. On the first ballot, Sweeney led Heil 32 to 26, with Ross getting five votes; there was one abstention.

In a telephone interview with The Real Deal Press earlier this week, Sweeney, also a former state representative, said that he greatly missed public service and that if elected, he would dedicate himself to constituent service.

It is widely anticipated that Heil, who is the Cleveland ward 15 leader, and also president of the county's young Democrats, will challenge Sweeney when an election is held to fill the unexpired term.

The Heil-Sweeney contest was seen by many as a harbinger of what may be a changing of the guard in Cleveland's political climate, with so many key positions — the 11th Congressional District, Cleveland mayor, county executive — coming on the ballot in the next two years. And there are no doubt many Cleveland city councilmen anxiously awaiting to see how far the shoe drops when results of the 2020 Census become known. An expected steep decline in the city's population will trigger an automatic reduction in council's size, with some estimates that 4-6 seats will be eliminated.

Adding some intrigue to the contest was speculation by some that Sweeney was encouraged to enter the race against Heil by to deter Sweeney from challenging Cleveland ward 15 councilman Brian Mooney this fall. That encouragement was thought to come from forces aligned with council president Kevin Kelley, who is expected to announce soon his candidacy for the mayor's job this fall. 

Sweeney denied such speculation, although he did acknowledge in our interview that he was alerted to the county council vacancy by former county executive Ed FitzGerald, a known Kelley confidant.

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