Aftab Pureval

Aftab Karma Singh Pureval (born September 9, 1982) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 70th mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, since January 4, 2022.

[3] He was noted to have political ambitions from a young age; he won his first student government election in eighth grade running with the slogan "Big, Brown and Beautiful".

Running for class president as senior at Beavercreek High School, he faced anti-immigrant rhetoric when his opponent used the slogan "Vote for the American candidate."

[9] In September 2008, Pureval moved to Washington, D.C., to start as an associate at White & Case LLP, where he worked for four years in the area of anti-trust litigation.

He returned to Hamilton County, Ohio, in September 2012 to work as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the United States Department of Justice.

[9] He started in November 2013 as legal counsel for Procter & Gamble, and was included on Cincinnati Business Courier's 2015 Forty Under 40 list.

[11] He worked at P&G for over three years before taking a six-month leave of absence and ultimately departing the company to begin his political career.

He told reporters that his goals were to improve efficiency and cut spending, to eliminate partisan politics from the office, and to provide the poor with better access to the justice system.

[12] His opponent, Tracy Winkler, was well-known due to her family name's prominence in local politics and her position as the incumbent.

Since his successful election to the clerk of courts position, local news commentators and political insiders speculated that Pureval would run for a higher office.

[31][32] On the night of February 5, five days after his candidacy announcement, Pureval filed a police report alleging that his fiancée was being stalked at his Hyde Park house.

"[34] He said that campaign personnel hadn't visited the house since a week prior, although some reporters noted inconsistencies in his story about how many people were there and when.

[35] In March, the DCCC announced Pureval was one of nine new candidates in their "Red to Blue" program, meaning his campaign would receive additional support from the committee.

In a public statement, Pureval's legal counsel denied wrongdoing and claimed the FEC had rejected allegations of this sort.

[49][5] In the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a Supreme Court decision rolling back abortion rights in the U.S., Pureval announced new policies surrounding women's healthcare, including travel reimbursement for city employees seeking medical care not available in Ohio.

The organization honored him and fellow mayors Bruce Harrell and Michelle Wu as having made the "most impact" in the field of advocacy and policy.

Pureval shaking hands at a rally for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in October 2016
Aftab Pureval for Congress
Pureval's campaign logo
Pureval's mayoral campaign logo
Pureval (far left) and other newly-elected mayors meet with President Joe Biden in December 2021