The backlash from several high profile officer-involved shooting cases in Cleveland may have cost Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty his bid for re-election.
McGinty lost his seat to Parma Safety Director Michael O’Malley in Tuesday’s primary.
McGinty received 44.2 percent of the vote while O’Malley had 55.8 percent.
During his four years in office, McGinty worked to target violent and habitual offenders and formed a successful rape kit task force.
But political analyst Tom Sutton said recent high-profile officer involved shootings like the Tamir Rice case turned the tide against McGinty in recent months.
“If this had been any other situation without these high profile cases, McGinty would have won and probably wouldn’t even have had a challenger,” Sutton said.
O’Malley told newsnet5.com in an interview Tuesday night that he launched his campaign because of the way cases like the Tamir Rice, Michael Brelo and Tanisha Anderson cases were handled.
“I forced the current prosecutor to get out to answer tough questions and to propose more changes,” O’Malley said.
Following the news of no indictment in the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, protestors gathered at McGinty’s house and called for his resignation.
A flyer also surfaced offering a bounty for his head with “proof of kill.”
Sutton said McGinty intended to serve as a “reformer” but his tactics did not come across well with many citizens who were upset with the court decisions.
“He tried to open the process of the grand jury, he tried to be very transparent but instead he wound up shooting himself in the foot,” Sutton said.
O’Malley will run uncontested in the November election.
