A political newcomer, Justin Bibb, and City Council President Kevin Kelley will advance to the November general election in their bids to become the next mayor of Cleveland.

Justin Bibb (27 percent) and Kevin Kelley (19 percent) received the most votes in the September 14 primary.

In all, seven candidates were seeking to succeed current, four-term incumbent Frank Jackson, who will retire at the end of his current term.

Dennis Kucinich finished third with 17 percent of the vote. The results end his attempt to return to the mayor's position after four decades.

Zack Reed, Basheer Jones and Sandra Williams each earned around 11 to 12 percent of the vote. Ross DiBello won 2 percent of votes.

Those candidates not moving on to the general election thanked their supporters in concession speeches Tuesday night.

Over the past nine weeks we have been chronicling the campaign and candidates in our new podcast After Jackson: Cleveland's Next Mayor.

Ideastream Public Media Senior Reporter, Nick Castele will continue following the campaign on through the general election vote.

In this latest episode, "Winners' Circle" we hear from Bibb and Kelley and recap primary night.

Later we discuss the results of the primary in-depth with local experts.

You can follow the After Jackson: Cleveland's Next Mayor podcast and download it from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and NPR One. We will also continue to bring you the episodes weekly here on The Sound of Ideas.

Also, in the show we get an update on the pandemic and this current wave of cases impacting the state including the rise of pediatric cases of COVID-19.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine laid the blame for the lack of a statewide mask mandate at the feet of his fellow Republicans in the legislature yesterday.

In a news conference with executives from several of Ohio's children's hospitals, DeWine said he has not put a mask mandate in place, because, he says the legislature has indicated that it would not hesitate to repeal it.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising in Ohio. The hospital executives say the situation is becoming "dire".

The hospital executives said that in addition to COVID-19, the RSV virus is also impacting children. They urged superintendents in the state's school districts to make masks mandatory. Many districts have left the decision whether to mask up to families.

Guests:
Nick Castele, Senior Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
Richard Andrews, Editor & Publisher, The Real Deal Press
Cait Kennedy, Ph.D. Student, Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, Executive Director & Co-founder, unBail
Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV