New Black mayors take charge; 'a new beginning' in Memphis, a big victory in Cincinnati - W.W. Herenton and Dwight Tillery

Ebony, March, 1992 by Walter Leavy

In one of the most stunning election surprises in the city's political history, Tillery, whom pollsters didn't even consider a serious candidate, collected 51,372 votes--more than any of the other 25 challengers--to become the city's first popularly elected Black mayor (Theodore Berry and J. Kenneth Black-well previously served as mayor, but, unlike Tillery, were appointed to the position by the city council).

Under the city's at-large voting system, the top nine vote-getters comprise the city council, and the person who collects the most overall votes becomes the city's mayor. Tillery's feat, which observers call," amazing, unbelievable and incredible," was suprising because many believed he wouldn't even get enough votes to retain the council seat that he had held since he was appointed in December 1990 to fill the unexpired council term of U.S. Rep. Charles Luken, D-Ohio.

"In spite of what the pollsters were predicting about the outcome in this election, I believed I could win," says Tillery, an attorney who was first appointed to the city council in 1975 but lost in the election that year. "It had been 16 years since I had run for a council seat, but during that time, I had developed credibility throughout the city, especially in the Black community."

Much of Tillery's credibility came during his second term on the council--a 10-month stint that began in January 1991. During that time, the charismatic and outspoken lawmaker cemented his foundation of supporters by tackling many of the city's tough, highly controversial and sometimes politically unpopular issues, especially the variety of nagging environmental problems and the rising costs of public utilities. Just as appealing to many of the voters was the way he handled himself in his high-profile position as chairman of the council's Law & Public Safety Committee, which, during his tenure, had to deal with one of Cincinnati's most volatile issues--the investigation of the deaths of two Black men who died while in the custody of police.

The mayor's record on these and other issues was the primary reason for his victory. In a city that's 58 percent White and 38 percent Black, he got the highest vote total in 17 of the city's 26 wards, which, he says, represents the most decisive victory margin in a mayoral race under the city's at-large system.

Now the 44-year-old bachelor, who took the oath of office on December 1, has the difficult task of holding on to city-wide support as he takes steps to implement an agenda that, he says, is designed to benefit aU of Cincinnati.

At the forefront of that agenda are plans to continue the fight against environmental problems in a city that has one of the highest cancer rates in the nation. In addition, he wants to help neighborhood business districts. He also wants to create a commission on children that will have the primary purpose of monitoring and assessing their quality of life. "I want to pull together diverse groups and get them to focus on the fact that the quality of life for everyone is directly tied to the relationships we have with one another," he says. "For me to feel successful as a mayor, I'll have to know that I helped people identify what the key issues are in terms of having a great city and to know that I helped bring those people together to develop solutions for resolving those problems."