AKRON, Ohio — In all likelihood, Akron residents will know who their next mayor will be by the end of Tuesday night.
The Democratic primary features seven people on the ballot: Mark Greer, Shammas Malik, Keith Mills, Tara Mosley, Joshua Schaffer, Marco Sommerville and Jeff Wilhite.
Since there are no Republicans or independent candidates running, the winner of the Democratic race on May 2 will not face any opposition in November.
A poll conducted by The Akron Beacon Journal, Ideastream Media and the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron showed the race is a virtual three-way tie between Malik, Mosley and Sommerville.
The poll included 400 registered Akron voters and has a 5% point margin of error.
It revealed Malik's support at 18.1%, Sommerville's at 17% and Mosley's at 15.2%.
Wilhite's support was at 6% followed by Schaffer at 5.1%, Greer at 3.4% and Mills at 2.5%.
News 5 recently spoke with the three leading candidates who all believe they have the experience to lead Akron.
Malik, an Akron city councilman, spoke about his vision for the city.
"I think we have released the strongest vision for where the city can go in those four issues: safety, education, jobs and housing. I have the experience, having worked in city government both as a lawyer and as a council member," Malik said.
Mosley, who is also on the city council, believes she relates to citizens better than the other candidates.
"I think my experience speaks for itself and I'm just relatable across the spectrum, not just in the ward that I represent but across the entire city," Mosley said.
Sommerville, who is a senior adviser to Mayor Dan Horrigan, believes he's the best candidate to attract new businesses.
"My life experience, I've been on the city council. I've been president of city council. I've been the planning director, and now I'm senior adviser to the mayor," Sommerville said.
Malik, Mosley and Sommerville acknowledged the pain Akron has endured since last July following the controversial police-involved shooting of Jayland Walker.
A grand jury decided to not indict the eight officers who shot Walker more than 40 times during a car and foot chase. Walker was unarmed when he was shot, but police said he fired a shot from his car less than a minute into the chase.
The candidates ahead in the recent poll said they support a request by Congresswoman Emilia Sykes calling for a Department of Justice investigation of the Akron Police Department.
The trio also agrees that safety and curbing violence in the city need to be top priorities.
"If I want people to leave with nothing else, it's that we will work every day to make Akron safer," Malik said.
Sommerville also spoke about the need to make Akron schools more secure based on comments he heard from students recently, including "I don't feel safe at school."
"Those are concerns that we need to talk to the board of education about and make sure that their students feel safe," Sommerville said.
Mosley said housing issues in Akron are also top-of-mind for her.
"We have too many vacant houses in the city. We have neighborhoods entrenched with vacant houses and empty lots," Mosley said.
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