Photo By Matt Borgerding

Christopher Smitherman (left) embraces fellow winning Charterite City Councilman Jim Tarbell at a victory party at Arnold’s Bar and Grill.

Christopher Smitherman was the man of the evening Nov. 4 at Arnold's Bar & Grill. In his first bid for public office, he'd just won a seat on Cincinnati City Council.

Finishing seventh among the nine candidates elected, Smitherman said he's "humbly surprised" by his success.

Surprise was one of the night's recurring themes. Besides Smitherman's election, Councilman Chris Monzel was ousted and fellow Republican Sam Malone won a seat.

The other recurring theme was money, or the lack of it.

Smitherman attributed his victory to "working really hard to raise the money." He's not ashamed of that, he said.

'Take care of him'
Now that's he's been elected, Smitherman promises to make good on a campaign promise that involves money -- and more.

"Of course I'm gonna talk about the boycott," he said.

Photo By David Sorcher

Enthusiastic Christopher Smitherman supporters cheer campaign results at the Board of Elections.

He also pledged to fight subsidies to corporations that threaten to leave Cincinnati, such as the $52 million council recently gave Convergys Corp.

"All the nonsense is gonna stop," Smitherman said.

Walking into Arnold's to greet his fellow Charterites, he was met with cheers and applause.

"Your winning's historic," said Douglass McDonald, president of the Cincinnati Museum Center.

McDonald asked Smitherman for a T-shirt and campaign signs for the Museum Center's collection.

Smitherman's brother wrapped his arms around Smitherman from behind, shoving two beers toward the new councilman-elect.

"I haven't eaten," Smitherman said, laughing.

One of the revelers had already downed a few too many.

Photo By Jymi Bolden

The Rev. Damon Lynch III addresses a throng of his supporters at Swifton Commons.

"Who's taking him home?" Smitherman asked.

Addressing a woman who stepped forward, he implored, "Take care of him."

The scene caught the attention of Jeffrey Stec, leader of the Urbanists.

"See how he's magnetic?" Stec said. "Bill Clinton had that."

Councilman Jim Tarbell, until now the Charter Committee's only representative on council, said he's not surprised Smitherman won.

"I felt from the beginning that, of the newest candidates, he had as good a chance as any because of his background and his family support," Tarbell said.

Support for Smitherman kept "growing and growing," according to Tarbell.

Eight incumbents sought re-election, and all but one made it. But there's no net change of Republican seats on city council, thanks to Malone's win. Malone and Monzel, who shared political views, essentially traded seats, Tarbell said.

Photo By David Sorcher

It’s a long night for Charterite Nick Spencer, who fails to rally support from his “creative class” cohorts and finishes down in the pack in his first run for office.

Monzel didn't get the endorsement of The Cincinnati Enquirer, a departure from its usual record of backing incumbent Republicans. Monzel's failure to win that endorsement "kind of laid the door open to Malone having a shot," Tarbell said.

Tarbell was elected. That didn't surprised him, but he didn't expect to finish so high in the tally -- fourth in the unofficial results.

"I spent so little, between one-half and one-third of what most folks spent," he said.

What could have been
For the first time in several years, two African-American men, Smitherman and Malone, will be part of the new council. Since Paul Booth's resignation last summer, no black men have been on council.

The African American whose candidacy roused the most speculation, the Rev. Damon Lynch III, had to settle for 10th place, missing a council seat by 949 votes.

The party at Lynch's campaign headquarters in Swifton Commons lost energy but not volume as it became clear he wouldn't win.

The room teemed with adults and children feasting on a catered buffet while a DJ spun Hip Hop. A drum set and keyboard sat at the ready. Later there was line dancing.

Photo By David Sorcher

Young Christopher Smitherman supporters watch campaign results at the Board of Elections.

Many supporters sat in a semi-circle around the enormous TV following election results, cheering as Lynch seemed to edge closer to ninth place.

Malia Lazu, Lynch's campaign manager, missed whatever precipitated the cheer.

"When you've been up for 48 hours, you start missing things," she said.

The campaign spent the last two days before the election galvanizing its supporters. They formed a living "Chain of Hope" stretching hand-to-hand from Avondale to Liberty Street downtown.

"I think Damon's campaign has done more than any person of color's campaign to deal with the racial context of Cincinnati," Lazu said.

Were it not for Malone's and Smitherman's victories, Lynch's impressive finish would be the dominant story: a first-time candidate who entered the race late and ran with far less funding than the winners yet almost won.

"You can be outspent 2-to-1 and still be in the race," Lazu said. "Having a candidate like Damon Lynch be neck-and-neck speaks well for progressives, for people of color, for poor people."

Photo By Jymi Bolden

The Buzz (1230 AM) covers Election Night results at the Board of Elections: (L-R) Jerri Tolliver, Ken Lawson, Scotty Johnson and Jay Love.

Spilling their guts
Monzel stood with a small group of supporters outside Javier's restaurant on Court Street downtown. He had planned to celebrate his re-election.

Seeing a reporter approach, Monzel said to one of his guests, "Guess I have to put the happy face on, be the gentleman."

Monzel plans to continue in public service, possibly returning to the Winton Place Community Council, where he got his political start.

He didn't think his campaign lacked anything "but the people to vote," he said.

Meanwhile, jovial Republican Pete Witte held a "strategy session" upstairs at Arnold's, which appeared to involve more beer than strategy. Witte finished 15th of the 26 contenders.

Charterite Nick Spencer left his party's fete at Arnold's early. He finished 21st.

"We'll regroup and figure out what went wrong," said Barry Gee, Spencer's campaign treasurer.

He hints that the Charter Committee would welcome a second Spencer run in two years.

"It's really hard to win your first time out without $100,000," said field director Adam Stovall.

Sometimes it's really hard to campaign at all. Stovall was recently diagnosed with a hernia that left him vomiting on streets he was pounding for his candidate. ©