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Vice President JD Vance didn’t vote for his half-brother in the Cincinnati, Ohio, non-partisan mayoral primary on May 6 despite posting an endorsement of him ahead of the vote.
Vance, a former Ohio senator, advocated for Cory Bowman just hours before polls closed.
"He’s a good guy with a heart for serving his community," Vance wrote on X. "Get out there and vote for him!"
Bowman received 2,926 votes, but Vance wasn’t one of them, according to the voter list collated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections, which revealed Vance didn’t cast a ballot in the race, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Records from the Elections Board reveal whether a voter cast a ballot and if they voted for a Democrat or a Republican, but it doesn’t show which candidate they backed.
Vance has a residence and is registered to vote in the East Walnut Hill neighborhood of the city.
The Enquirer asked Bowman why Vance didn’t vote for him.
"I don’t have any information or comment on that," Bowman said.
Bowman, who shares a father with Vance, came in second out of three candidates in the primary, meaning that he will have a place in the general election. However, he came far behind Democratic Mayor Aftab Pureval, receiving 13 percent of the vote to Pureval’s 83 percent. Pureval and Bowman will face off on November 4.
Bowman, a Republican from the College Hill neighborhood of the city, is set to face a difficult struggle in a city where President Donald Trump and Vance lost by a three-to-one margin in last year’s presidential election. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris received 76 percent of the city’s vote to Trump’s 24 percent. Similarly, all of Cincinnati City Council’s current members are Democrats.
“I’m deeply grateful to every Cincinnati voter who cast a ballot to advance us to the general election,” Bowman said on X after the vote. “The greatest gift local government can offer its residents is a choice. That’s exactly what voters will have this November. There’s much work ahead, and we’re ready to show our great city that we’re the best candidate for the job.”
“My family and I are overwhelmed by the encouragement and support we’ve received over recent weeks, and we’re excited for all that will be accomplished in the months ahead,” he added.
Cincinnati is a strongly Democratic city, and Republicans haven’t put forward a candidate since future congressman Brad Wenstrup lost to Mark Mallory in 2009.
Bowman serves as a pastor at the River Church in the West End neighborhood, and he also runs the King's Arms Coffee Shop in College Hill.
He has previously said he was inspired to run for office after attending the inauguration of Trump and Vance in January.
“As I was flying back here from the inauguration, it occurred to me that I could do something to serve the community,” he said previously.
It has been reported that Vance spent time on the Bowman farm in Preble County in his youth, and the younger half-brother, Bowman, who is 36 while Vance is 40, has described their relationship as a “friendly sibling rivalry.”
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