2023 Columbus, Ohio mayoral election

The 2023 Columbus mayoral election took place on November 7, 2023, to elect the mayor of Columbus, Ohio. Incumbent Democratic mayor Andrew Ginther was re-elected to a third term in office.^[1] A primary election would have been held in May, but because only two candidates qualified for the race, both advanced directly to the November general election.^[2] Two write-in candidates were later certified to the general election ballot. Mayoral elections in Columbus are officially non-partisan but candidates are often endorsed by their parties.

2023 Columbus, Ohio mayoral election

← 2019 November 7, 2023 2027 →

Candidate Andrew Ginther Joe Motil Popular vote 137,475 76,989 Percentage 63.4% 35.5%

Mayor before election Andrew Ginther Democratic Elected mayor Andrew Ginther Democratic

Candidates

Declared

• Andrew Ginther, incumbent mayor (Party affiliation: Democratic)^[3][4]
• Carrie Griffin (write-in) (Party affiliation: Republican)^[5][a]
• Joe Motil, community activist (Party affiliation: Democratic)^[b]
• Allison Willford, realtor (write-in) (Party affiliation: Independent)^[5]

Withdrawn

• Tom Sussi, private investigator and former investigative reporter (write-in) (Party affiliation: Independent)^[5]

Results

Note: The Columbus mayoralty is an officially non-partisan position and all candidates appear on the ballot without a party affiliation. Affiliations listed here are according to the candidates themselves and party endorsement lists.

2023 Columbus mayoral election^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Andrew Ginther (incumbent)	137,475	63.4
	Democratic	Joe Motil	76,989	35.5
	Republican	Carrie Griffin (write-in)	512	0.2
	Independent	Allison Willford (write-in)	310	0.1
	Write-in	Other write-ins[c]	1,552	0.7
Total votes			216,838	100.0

Notes

1. Griffin was initially disqualified from the primary election after submitting only 566 of the required 1,000 valid signatures on her nomination petitions. However, she was later certified to the general election as a write-in candidate.^[1][2][6]
2. Motil was denied endorsement by the Franklin County Democratic Party for lack of adequate campaign resources including funding.^[7][8][9]
3. Write-ins for individuals who were not certified as candidates by the Franklin County Board of Elections.