AKRON — Akronites will soon head to the polls to select their next mayor.

What You Need To Know

  • The Akron Democratic Mayoral Primary is May 2nd 

  • There are seven Democrats running for mayor 

  • No Republicans filed to run

  • Incumbent mayor Dan Horrigan is not running for re-election.

Although the mayoral primary race takes place in September, the democratic primary is May 2, and no republicans have filed to run, so it is highly likely that whoever wins this race will become the next mayor of Akron.

Seven democrats are vying for the city's top leadership position. Several of the candidates are public officials, while a few are new to the political sphere. 

Here is a list of the candidates in no particular order: 

  • Tara Mosley
  • Shammas Malik
  • Marco Sommerville
  • Mark Greer
  • Joshua Schaffer
  • Keith Mills
  • Jeff Wilhite 

This election comes on the precipice of what some, including Reverend Nanette Pitt of First Congressional Church of Akron, are calling a deep divide between city officials and its constituents. 

“I don’t think there is anyway to underestimate how much the people of Akron are hurting,” Pitt said. 

Pitt has been at her church since 2015, and she has made it her mission to fight for quality for all Akronites. 

“I think that Akron has a legacy of racial inequality of economic inequality,” Pitt said. “Those issues don’t go away. Generationally, those issues deepen, and so the divides deepen between the different groups of people, those disparate groups of people, and that is the legacy that Akron is dealing with.” 

Pitt said this is election marks a pivotal time for the city. 

“I believe that Akron is ready for change, and change that is not just lip service but is deep meaningful, substantive change,” she said. “The people who have been in the establishment for a long time only think about economic development, and I think they miss the fact that is one currency, but money isn’t the only currency. People's lives matter. The way we treat one another matters.” 

She believes some of the biggest issues Akron is facing include police reform following the killing of Jayland Walker, environmental issues and housing. 

“I think Akron deserves a mayor that is a visionary,” she said. “Someone that has the ability to imagine the future and not just imagine it and talk about it, but who has the ability to turn that into action into legislation.” 

She said the next mayor will have their hands full, working on policy and on healing the collective trauma throughout the city. 

“I think that all of the solutions, and the change we need in fact, is a deep change, in order to be a lasting change, and think we are looking for that change to ripple through from the mayoral race on down through Akron," she said.

For more information on the May 2 primary election in Summit County, click here.