District 7 city councilor Joanne Cogle officially kicked off her campaign for mayor flanked by many of her colleagues on council including Byron Hickey who suspended his own campaign for mayor and endorsed Cogle. “Do you want change or do you want things to stay the same?” Councilor Hickey asked the crowd. “Joanne is that bridge builder.”
The race for mayor is non-partisan though other candidates have publicly aligned themselves with a particular party. Cogle said she does not identify as a Republican or Democrat. “Well, I’m a unique candidate because I’m a non-partisan candidate and I have voted with neither parties in any of my voting. I really strongly believe that Columbus needs a non-partisan mayor, a true non-partisan mayor that will represent both sides of Columbus and all its citizens and I think somebody needs to stand up and make sure that both sides are brought together equally and fairly represented,” Cogle said.
District 4 councilor Toyia Tucker said the race for mayor is “not black and white. It’s not red and blue. It’s right and wrong. It’s the right person or the wrong person. It’s if you want to go 41 years backwards or do you want to go 41 years ahead.”
Cogle said she was taken aback by the controversy surrounding her former campaign manager after the Ledger-Enquirer reported he identified as a Christian Nationalist. He is no longer with the campaign, but Cogle said she hires people based on their talent not political affiliation. “We have some great people that have stepped up, some great volunteers who have stepped up and we are moving forward.”
She’s moving forward with nearly $90K raised in campaign donations. Cogle said the money raised is all local and that means something. “I know that the majority of my funding I have raised so far is Columbus based and within the county and I think that really reflects a belief in me by the business owners, by the citizens and I’m proud to represent them,” Cogle said.
Qualifying for the Mayor’s race starts in March. Election day is May 19.
