The 2025 Council Race

All of the candidates in the 2025 race have chosen to “Dare Greatly” I leave all the critics with the great speech by Teddy Roosevelt.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

If you don’t like your city council, I challenge you to “Dare Greatly” and run in 2027. This year we have five candidates that have never run for office, two of those with limited experience and a candidate that has served two terms on council and two years as mayor. Of the two new candidates with limited experience one candidate has a family with years of experience with local politics in the Harrison area.

Harrison has a strong mayor form of government, with the elections requiring candidates to declare a party, in other words, the elections are partisan. In recent years the elections are often decided in the Republican Primary. In total, there are 8 elected officials comprised of a mayor and seven council members. Elections are held every two years in the odd years as opposed to even years for the Presidential and Gubernatorial races in Ohio. In the election year following the Presidential election, four council seats are elected. In the year following Ohio’s Gubernatorial race the remaining 3 council seats and the mayor’s seat are elected. Since 2025 is the year after the 2024 Presidential Election, Harrison will elect four of it’s seven council members. Those council members seats that are up for election are currently held by:

1. Doug Abrams (R)
2. Tanner Dole (R)
3. Patty Brickner VanCleve (unaffiliated)
4. Jerry Wilson (R)

State Representative Cindy Abrams’s husband Doug lost in landslide during the May primary. He received significantly fewer votes than the four candidates who advanced to the November ballot.

Tanner Dole was appointed by the Republican Central Committee to fill Ray Acra’s seat when Ray passed. Tanner presents a family that has long served in Harrison politics. He is proceeded on council by his grandfather Jim, his brother Ethan and his sister Lexi. When Lexi became engaged to her now husband, she moved to Indiana with her seat being filled by the appointment of Ray Acra, his second appointment to city council.

Patty Brickner VanCleve was appointed when the council violated my 5th amendment rights and removed me from council. Patty interviewed with the current council which is controlled by Republican Central Committee. Among the eight candidates that interview she checked all the boxes required by the Republican Central Committee, except for the fact that she was an unaffiliated voter, often referred by many establishment Republicans abs not being a “Real” Republican.

Jerry Wilson is not running for reelection. Jerry had some very serious health issues during the early part of 2025 that prevented him from circulating petitions. January 2026 will mark the end of having Jerry and his wife Jean WIlson serving together on city council.

Bill Neyer is a two term council member and two term mayor. He led the debate on working towards the repeal of the fire levy property tax and the replacement tax that wound up as the repeal of the city income tax credit. He led the debate that considered options like leaving the fire levy in place, increasing the income tax, repealing the income tax credit and making cuts to the city budget. While the mayor doesn’t vote on these issues, the income tax credit repeal was voted on in December of 2024 and was passed by a 6-1 margin. Mayor Neyer also led the debate on the Oakland Hills subdivision. That development was approved in 2024 under the leadership of Mayor Ryan Grubbs, passing by the narrow margin of 4-3. Doug Abrams, Ray Acra and the Wilsons were the council members that voted in the affirmative.

Elect Edward Whitt is running for council for the very first time. He has a full-time job and is co-owner of the Trading Card Academy, a small business located in “The District” of downtown Harrison. He is intelligent, articulate and thoughtful.

I believe Kathie J. Ragar-Lawyer was the first candidate to post her ICRC-TV recorded campaign speech to the internet and Facebook. Her video can be found here.

Brad Noes is running as an independent. He is currently involved in a lawsuit with the city for their alleged incompetence with regard to managing the M-1 development behind his home. This M-1 development is bordered by West Rd to the north, Dry Fork Rd to the east and I-74 marking the border along the southwest side of the development.

I would encourage you to research your candidates and vote wisely on Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. I would also encourage you to push for our local volunteer organization to host a candidate forum as was done in 2017, 2019 and 2021. For more information on the lack the concern of having no 2025 forum, read Joe Combs’ intelligent, articulate and thoughtful blog on the subject. Also check out the lowly attended and seldom watched 2021 Candidate Forum linked below.

Lastly be sure to stop by to see Jake on election day as well as come by for a cup of coffee and a doughnut in morning. In the afternoon stop by for a burger or hot dog. Jake and his owners are here to feed the hungry! Jake’s home is located adjacent to Legacy Christian Church, home to voting location for Harrison Precinct A.