CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland City Councilman Brian Kazy defeated challenger Bill Ritter Tuesday in the race to represent the West side's Ward 16, according to unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Kazy led Ritter by a slim margin throughout the night and eventually won with 53.9 percent of the vote.
The election concludes an acrimonious campaign season for the two candidates - the winners of a five-way primary Sept. 8. During recent interviews with cleveland.com reporters and editors, Kazy and Ritter exchanged insults and attacked each other on topics ranging from their commitment to public service to their campaign strategies.
Kazy said Ritter has done little to become involved in the community, despite having lived his entire life in the ward.
"Aside from being a 60-year resident of the ward, what else has he done?" Kazy said during an interview. "If anybody would have been doing what they should have been doing as an engaged resident of Ward 16, I wouldn't be here."
Ritter accused Kazy of using his "safety and service walks" -- a door-to-door campaign he launched to introduce residents to neighborhood police officers -- as a way to drum up votes.
And he said that Kazy is politically beholden to former Council President Martin J. Sweeney, who appointed Kazy in January after Sweeney left office for a seat in the statehouse.
Ritter characterized Kazy as a carpetbagger, who so desperately sought a council seat that he was willing to take any one that became vacant.
"All of sudden he shows up in Ward 16 with no prior connection to the ward," Ritter said. "At the end of the day, it's obvious that he just wants to be a councilman."
Kazy's appointment stirred controversy because, though a lifelong Clevelander, he did not live in Ward 16. He eventually moved into the ward and bought the home of Cuyahoga County Councilman Dale Miller - coincidentally, the former councilman who chose Sweeney as his successor in 1997.
Before his appointment, Kazy had lost a bid in 2013 to unseat Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins. Kazy did not live in that ward at the time either.
Kazy deflected the carpetbagger accusation by highlighting his history in public service, as a former Cuyahoga County probation officer and community activist. And he dismissed Ritter's attacks as the angry sentiments of a "bitter" man, who has unsuccessfully run for public office in the past.
"I understand that my opponent, since the age of 18, has been trying to obtain this seat unsuccessfully, and he's bitter at the process," Kazy said. "And I don't blame him. If I had been unable to obtain my goals in life and knew this was my last run at it, I'd be bitter too."