AKRON, Ohio — A new era in Akron is about to begin after voters elected 32-year-old Shammas Malik as the city's next mayor on Tuesday.
Malik easily defeated write-in candidate Nathaniel Green, receiving a total of 12,603 votes to Green's 426. A staggering 97% to 3% margin.
The Akron native and relative newcomer to the political scene launched his mayoral bid while serving his first term on City Council representing Ward 8.
In May, Malik earned the Democratic nomination for Akron mayor, earning roughly 43% of ballots cast. The second-place finisher, Deputy Mayor Marco Sommerville, finished 17 points behind.
With Akron having not elected a Republican mayor since 1979, Malik has spent the last six months as the presumptive choice to succeed incumbent Dan Horrigan, who decided not to seek a third term. He has already made several key appointments to his transition team.
With Horrigan out of the running, the decision on who would become Akron's next mayor became dominated by the 2022 police shooting death of Jayland Walker, which caused an uproar in the community both before and after a grand jury decided not to criminally charge the eight officers involved.
"The city has 1,800 employees. The city has 190,000 people living in it. We have monumental issues. I think the weight of that is a reality," Malik told our Lydia Esparra in May.
Malik went to Firestone High School in Akron, then attended Ohio State University, before getting his law degree at Harvard. After law school, Malik decided to return to home to Akron. He worked first as an assistant director of law for the city, before being elected to represent Ward 8 on Akron City Council.