JD Vance’s Half-Brother Is Running for Mayor—And Cincinnati Might Finally Get a Reality Check
Well, here’s one for the “didn’t see that coming” file: JD Vance’s half-brother is running for mayor of Cincinnati.
Yes, that JD Vance—Vice President of the United States. His half-brother Cory Bowman, a Republican pastor and coffee shop owner, just clinched a spot on the November ballot. And suddenly, a local mayor’s race looks a lot more like the opening scene of a new political franchise.
Results indicate he received around 13% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary, well below Pureval who got around 83%.
But it was enough to have Bowman finish second ahead of another Republican candidate, Brian Frank. The two candidates with the most votes go on to run for mayor in the fall. – BBC
Because when your sibling is sitting one heartbeat from the presidency, your city council bid starts to feel less like civic duty and more like empire-building. Oh, settle down and roll with the sarcasm.
From Coffee Beans to Ballots
Bowman co-founded a church in Cincinnati’s West End and runs Kings Arms Coffee. His entry into politics wasn’t exactly on the radar—until he attended his half-brother’s inauguration in January. That moment, he says, stirred something in him: a call to serve closer to home, where the issues feel personal and the change feels possible.
And now JD is backing him—loudly and without hesitation. It’s a bold move, and while some might raise an eyebrow at the family connection, it’s not exactly unprecedented. From the Kennedys to the Bushes, America’s seen its fair share of political families. The difference here? The Vances are doing it with a fresh, outsider energy—and aiming it straight at local leadership where it’s badly needed.
A Republican in Democrat Territory
Cincinnati has been under Democratic control for over 50 years. That’s half a century of budget black holes, busted plows, neglected neighborhoods, and feel-good fluff while real issues rot from the inside out.
So when Bowman says the city’s priorities are out of whack, he’s not wrong. In a May primary where barely 8% of voters bothered to show up, Bowman pulled enough support to make the general election against Mayor Aftab Pureval.
And with voter turnout that low, anything can happen.
JD Vance’s little bro is trying to get Jerry Springer’s old job.
No, not *that* one. He wants the mayorship of Cincinnati!
And no, it’s not going well.
— via @adamwren https://t.co/LMOK9nkoK1
— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) May 3, 2025
Asshat Punditry At Work
The pundit class is already out there crowing that Cory Bowman is getting “crushed” in the Cincinnati mayoral race—rolling their eyes at his second-place finish and scoffing even harder after JD Vance endorsed him. But let’s get something straight: this was a low-turnout primary, not the final word. Just 8% of voters showed up. Eight. And yet we’re supposed to believe this was some definitive referendum? Please. What these smug analysts either don’t understand—or worse, are deliberately ignoring—is that Bowman likely wouldn’t have even cleared that hurdle without JD Vance stepping in. That endorsement gave him name recognition, legitimacy, and media oxygen in a race no one was watching.
The goal wasn’t to win the primary—it was to make it to November. And now he has. But instead of acknowledging that, the usual suspects are already spinning the story, trying to kneecap momentum before it starts. Call it what it is: narrative management dressed up as analysis. The real race starts now. And they’re scared it might not go the way they planned.
The Pitch: Common Sense, Not Coattails
Bowman insists he’s not leveraging his brother’s name. His campaign is focused on the basics: infrastructure, safety, fiscal sanity. But let’s not kid ourselves. The Vance name—now attached to the second-highest office in the land—is doing plenty of heavy lifting.
This isn’t just about potholes anymore. It’s about positioning. And maybe, just maybe, it’s the start of something bigger.
Time to Break the Cycle?
This should be the GOP’s next big push: flipping America’s deep-blue cities red, starting with places like Cincinnati. The rest of Ohio is already there—solidly conservative, electing Republican leaders statewide. But like Atlanta in Georgia, Cincinnati is the one stubborn blue dot dragging the rest down with it. It doesn’t have to stay that way.
If Republicans want lasting, meaningful change, they need to stop writing off the cities and start fighting for them. Cory Bowman may not be a household name yet, but his run is part of something bigger. If we can plant real conservative leadership in urban strongholds—grounded in faith, family, and common sense—then the tide will finally turn. And it won’t just be Ohio that changes. It’ll be the whole country.
Cincinnati voters are staring at a choice: Keep circling the same Democratic drain, or shake things up—even if the shakeup comes with a touch of dynastic ambition.
Fifty years of single-party rule has brought a lot of promises and not nearly enough results. So if Cory Bowman wants to channel his half-brother’s momentum and offer something different, maybe it’s worth listening.
Even if it feels just a little bit… strategic.
Feature Image: From Cory Bowman’s X account/JD Vance/Wikipedia/edited in Canva Pro
If you liked this story from the Guardians of the Republic category here on the blog, check out the Left Unchecked section.
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