David Scott Mann (born September 25, 1939) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States representative for Ohio's 1st congressional district from 1993 to 1995. He also served as a member of the Cincinnati City Council from 2013 to 2022 and from 1974 to 1992, during which time he served as mayor of Cincinnati from 1980 to 1982 and again in 1991. Mann ran in the 2021 Cincinnati mayoral election, but lost to Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval.
Early life
At the time of his birth, Mann's parents resided in Park Hills, a Northern Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati. During his father's service in the United States Navy in World War II, Mann lived with his mother in her hometown of Horse Cave, Kentucky before moving to his father's assignment of the Bronx. His family later settled in Cincinnati.
Mann completed his secondary education at Dixie Heights High School before attending Harvard University on a Navy ROTC scholarship, graduating cum laude in 1961 with a degree in biochemical science. After graduating, Mann served in the Navy from 1961 to 1965. As a lieutenant, Mann served aboard the destroyer USS English during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mann was a supporter of President John F. Kennedy; Mann credits Kennedy's assassination with convincing him to attend law school instead of medical school so that he could better engage in public service. After his time in the navy, Mann attended Harvard Law School and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws degree magna cum laude in 1968. He was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Mann became involved in politics, erecting yard signs for Jack Gilligan's unsuccessful 1968 Senate campaign. He originally intended to help write Gilligan's policy proposals, but the campaign did not accept his request. He endorsed former vice president Walter Mondale's candidacy in the 1984 Democratic presidential primaries. Following a 1989 shooting in Louisville, Mann successfully proposed a ban on most semi-automatic firearms within Cincinnati.
Mann served as mayor of Cincinnati twice during his time on the Council. His first mayoralty was from December 1980 to November 1982, and his second was from January to November 1991.
Tenure
Mann began serving in the 103rd United States Congress in 1993. While in the House, he sponsored five bills and served on the House Armed Services and House Judiciary Committees. Mann voted against President Bill Clinton's stimulus package and budget proposal and was skeptical towards Clinton's health care plan. Mann also called for further investigation into the Whitewater controversy. His opposition to much of Clinton's agenda led an article in The Washington Post to state that he "often behaves more like a Republican than a Democrat". Mann supported some Clinton-backed initiatives, such as the Brady Bill, which established a waiting period of five days for handgun purchases. Mann voted in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which damaged his reputation with some of his allies in organized labor. After learning that one of his sons was gay, he voted in favor of Barney Frank's failed 1994 bill to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination.
Defeat in 1994
With Mann facing labor backlash for his support of NAFTA, Bowen challenged him for the Democratic nomination in the 1994 election. Despite statements by unions that they would support primary candidates running against pro-NAFTA Democrats, NPR referred to Bowen as the only "serious" labor-backed primary challenger in the country. The Clinton administration supported Mann in the primary, with Vice President Al Gore attending two fundraisers that collectively grossed over $100,000 for Mann's campaign. The sum from Gore's fundraisers roughly matched the donations that Bowen stated he would receive from unions. In a debate against Bowen, Mann expressed his alignment with the New Democrats and refused to support increased taxes or spending, stating that Bowen wanted to "tax more and spend more". Mann won renomination by 667 votes, which an article in The Christian Science Monitor attributed to his successful television advertising. Unions were divided on Mann's general election campaign; some, such as the Ohio Education Association, endorsed him, while others, such as the Cincinnati AFL–CIO Labor Council, refused to do so. Mann ultimately lost his bid for re-election to Republican Steve Chabot in the "Republican Revolution".
After losing his bid for congressional re-election, Mann ran for a position on the Ohio First District Court of Appeals in 1996, but lost to incumbent Lee Hildebrandt Jr. He would not return as a candidate for office until 2013. He was simultaneously endorsed by the Democratic Party and the Charter Committee. Mann was appointed vice mayor by Mayor John Cranley in 2013, a position which he would hold until 2018. Mann opposed the Cincinnati streetcar and voted to halt its construction on his fourth day in office, but work on the project eventually proceeded. Mann often served as a mediator between Cranley and Cranley's opponents on the Council, helping broker deals on a number of issues. In 2015, Mann reached a compromise with Cranley on a budget dispute, preventing a government shutdown. In 2018, Mann became the chair of the Council's Budget and Finance Committee, which is responsible for the city's finances. That same year, Mann proposed levying an excise tax on short-term rentals, with the proceeds going to the city's affordable housing fund. Mann stated that the tax would "strike a balance between preserving and funding affordable housing units and community in neighborhoods, encouraging tourism and entrepreneurship through short-term rentals, and ensuring that all visitors to Cincinnati are staying in units that are safe and up to code". The proposal was implemented in 2019. In 2020, Mann voted with the majority of the Council to remove the fare from the streetcar.
2021 mayoral campaign
In May 2020, Mann announced that he would run for mayor of Cincinnati in the 2021 election. In a letter to potential donors, Mann stated that he had no ambitions for higher office beyond city politics and that his "experience and leadership qualities" could help address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, Mann won 29% of the vote in the nonpartisan mayoral primary, placing second and advancing to the general election. Following the primary, Mann stated that general election opponent Aftab Pureval lacked the experience to serve as mayor, referring to Pureval's position of Hamilton County Clerk of Courts as "small". By October 21, Mann had raised $388,307, trailing Pureval's $961,810. Mann lost the November general election with 34% of the vote to Pureval's 66%.