JD Vance’s Half-Brother Loses Ohio Election in Landslide with Vice President’s Endorsement

Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother, Republican Cory Bowman, was handily defeated on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in a long-shot bid to become Cincinnati mayor.

Aftab Pureval, a Democrat, won reelection with more than 78% of the vote, while Bowman received 22%, according to unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Pureval was previously elected in November 2021, when he became the first Asian American to hold the position of mayor of Cincinnati. Prior to running for mayor, he worked as an attorney.

Vance, who was not publicly involved in Bowman’s campaign, encouraged people to vote for him on primary day.

“He’s a good guy with a heart for serving his community,” Vance said in a post on X in May. “Get out there and vote for him!”

Voting records show Vance, who is registered to vote in Cincinnati, did not cast his own ballot in the primary. While he voted in the 2025 general election, records indicate he voted absentee, despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to end mail-in voting.

Crime was central to the mayoral campaign following separate high-profile violent incidents over the summer. At an October debate, Bowman tried to portray Pureval as soft on crime and alleged that unspecified initiatives from City Hall had hindered police from doing their jobs.

Pureval, meanwhile, countered those claims, saying city leaders had taken numerous steps to combat crime, including implementing a curfew and investing in the recruitment of more police officers.

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Pureval also sought to link Bowman to President Trump, labeling him and some of his supporters “MAGA extremists” in a city that supported Democrats in recent presidential elections.

Pureval outperformed Bowman in the May primary with more than 80% of the vote.