Vice President JD Vance's half-brother Cory Bowman suffered a humiliating defeat in Cincinnati's mayoral race.
The Associated Press called the race for incumbent Mayor Aftab Pureval just under 45 minutes after polls closed Tuesday night with 78 percent of the unofficial vote, compared to just 22 percent for Bowman, with all 190 of the city's precincts reporting.
That was actually an improvement on Bowman's performance in the May primary election, when the Republican won the right to appear on the November ballot by placing second with just 13 percent of the vote in the heavily Democratic southwest Ohio city.
The vice president, who has a home in the city's Walnut Hills neighborhood and grew up in nearby Middletown, tossed a last-minute endorsement toward his half-brother in that election, but spent virtually no political capital on him since then.
“Hey Cincinnati!" Vance posted on X back in May. "My brother Cory Bowman is running for mayor and is on the ballot today for the primary. He’s a good guy with a heart for serving his community. Get out there and vote for him!”
Vance did weigh in on an August brawl in downtown Cincinnati, saying the city's law enforcement had "allowed lawlessness to run wild," but did not specifically tie the issue to his half-brother's long-shot campaign.
"Bowman was the longest of long-shot candidates for mayor since direct election of Cincinnati’s mayor began in 2001," said WVXU's Howard Wilkinson, a longtime political columnist. "Despite the drubbing, there are those who believe Bowman may not be done with politics."
Republicans are potentially looking at Bowman as a candidate for Ohio's 1st congressional district after a GOP redistricting measure last week flipped Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman’s seat from “leans Democrat” to “leans Republican," Wilkinson said.
The 36-year-old Bowman, who shares a biological father with the vice president but grew up estranged from the 41-year-old Vance, appears to have used different addresses for his voter registration and his taxes.
He's a Butler County, Ohio, native who opened a church in Cincinnati's West End neighborhood affiliated with an evangelical church in Tampa, where he spent most of his adult life.