Lakewood Mayoral Election 2019: George Wins Narrow Election

LAKEWOOD, OH — Meghan George appears to have won a narrow election to become the next mayor of Lakewood. A narrow, back-and-forth contest saw George eke out a narrow victory on Tuesday night, according to unofficial Cuyahoga County Board of Elections results.

The lead swapped between Sam O'Leary and George three times before the night was through. However, with all of the city's scanners uploaded, George has received 5,702 votes (50.7 percent) to O'Leary's 5,537 votes (49.27 percent).

The Board of Elections said there may still be absentee ballots to count, but currently the margin of victory is not small enough to trigger an automatic recount. The margin of victory must be .5 percent or smaller to trigger an automatic recount.

In other Lakewood races, Tess Neff is beating Laura Rodriguez-Carbone in Ward 1, with 1,774 votes to 1,102. All scanners are uploaded in that race. Jason Shachner is beating Brad Presutto in Ward 2, 1,874 votes to 1,142 votes (with all scanners uploaded). John Litten is also beating Jeff Wise in Ward 3, 1,893 votes to 944 votes.

Mayoral Background

In early 2019, longtime Lakewood Mayor Mike Summers announced he would not seek re-election. His imminent departure opened the door for two candidates to replace him: Meghan George or Sam O'Leary.

George and O'Leary are both members of Lakewood City Council. They announced their dueling campaigns within weeks of each other: O'Leary announced his bid in late February, George announced her campaign in early March.

O'Leary is Lakewood City Council president. George is a first-term at-large city council member. Both candidates have long histories in Lakewood.

George is the daughter of former Lakewood Mayor Thomas George. Both candidates are third-generation Lakewood residents.

In the run-up to Tuesday's election, both George and O'Leary touted their accomplishments as legislators.

During his time on city council, O'Leary said, he has championed several causes, including investments in the city's parks, modernization of the city's dispatch services, LGBTQ rives, and the banning of "conversion therapy" in Lakewood.

George, who said she wanted to continue the focus on economic development along Lakewood's main corridors, championed her legislative work replacing the pit bull ban and her proposal for paid parental leave for city employees.

Patch will update this story on Tuesday as election results begin to come in.