AKRON, Ohio — Shammas Malik has won the Akron mayoral democratic primaries, receiving more than 43% of the vote. 

What You Need To Know

  • Shammas Malik won the Akron mayoral democratic primary’s and will likely become the next mayor of the city because no Republicans or Independents filed to run

  • If elected, Malik will be the first person of color to be Akron’s mayor 

  • Malik said he hopes to have a seamless transition between administration

If elected, Malik will be Akron’s first person of color to become mayor, and he promises to bring change to the city. 

Reverend Nanette Pitt is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church of Akron and is looking forward to the possibility of Malik becoming the next leader of the rubber city.  

“It’s a watershed moment in the city,” Pitt said. “We’re seeing the population and the citizens of Akron looking for more transparency, and more collaborative leadership, and I think that Shammas is well poised to offer that, but he will be pressed to live into those campaign values.”

Pitt, who is originally from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, explained that she’s excited about the diversity Malik, who is a Muslim-American, can bring to the city of Akron. 

“Even as a Christian minister, I think it is wonderful that he brings with him another tradition, another religious tradition,” she said. “I find him to be a person who celebrates diversity too, which I love.” 

During his campaign, Malik focused on several issues, including his goal of growing the city’s economy, something that Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber, said he is looking forward to. 

“So the most important thing for us, in our next mayor, was support for our collaborations that we built over the last five years in this region around a plan called ‘elevate greater Akron,’” Millard said. “This is a broad economic development strategy for the region that we’ve got more than twenty different organizations involved with, including the city and the counties."

Millard said that the business community in Akron was hit hard by the pandemic, and he hopes the new administration will continue to help create growth. 

“We've got to drive and leverage the success we have had and the history of polymers we have had in this region," he said. "We can be a worldwide source for advance materials and new things that are happening there. Our downtown our downtown and increasing vibrancy there is super important.”

Millard is hopeful that if elected, Malik will help the Greater Akron Chamber achieve these goals. 

“It’s super important for us to have partnerships with our elected officials to help drive that work,” he said. “They bring resources as does the private sector. Working together we can accomplish things we can’t do individually.”