Mayor Hall announces bid for fourth term, longest in Newark history
NEWARK − Mayor Jeff Hall announced Thursday he’s running for a fourth term, but there almost didn’t need to be any announcement.
He never considered not running again and his friends said they never even thought to ask him if he’d be a candidate again.
Hall, 66, a Republican, made his official announcement at the 1922 On The Square restaurant in downtown Newark, which was packed with his supporters, including a Who's Who list of Newark and Licking County leaders. If successful in the Nov. 7 general election, Hall would become the longest-serving mayor in Newark’s 220-year history.
"It's unprecedented, but it wouldn't happen without all your support," Hall told his supporters.
Really, there only needed to be an announcement if Hall decided not to run. It may just be semantics, but it shows how the mayor thinks about his job.
“You run until they don’t want you to run,” Hall said. “If I start hearing a lot of negative, I might go the other way. I think I always had an intent to run. Things are going pretty good. I get a lot of feedback from people, pretty good feedback. I enjoy the job very much.”
Hall said it would be more difficult to be a mayor of any other town. He was born and raised in Newark and is a fourth-generation resident.
“It's a great place to raise a family," Hall said "It’s quite an honor to be mayor of a town when it’s your town. It gives you quite an insight. It’s challenging at times because you can’t make everybody happy.”
Fred Ernest, director of Newark Development Partners public-private partnership, said he always assumed Hall was running for reelection. If he had any inkling Hall was considering not running, he'd have done something about it.
“I’d talked him into running, no doubt.," Ernest said. "He’s been a great leader and really knows how to get people together. He’s done a phenomenal job, with a great group trying to improve the way things look around here. The proof is in the pudding. The city looks beautiful.”
Steve Coon, owner of the former Longaberger basket building on the city's eastern edge, said he's seen tremendous improvement in the city since Hall became mayor.
"From where he started to where he's going to finish up, it's going to be amazing," Coon said. "Now, this is one of the shining cities in the state of Ohio. He's attracting business to come in here.
"It's that vision and believing when nobody else does. Downtown, it's impressive. There's an energy here that wasn't here 10 years ago. You can feel it here and it's positive."
City Councilman Doug Marmie, R-6th Ward, said he has a great relationship with the mayor, although he has to sometimes question spending in his role as Finance Committee chairman.
"We both understand our roles," Marmie said. "We're the checks and balances and have to question each other at times. I believe our relationship is string even though sometimes we do disagree.
"I think the mayor has done a fantastic job of marrying the public and private sectors and his willingness to look for efficiencies within the city has been another noteworthy accomplishment."
In 2019, Hall received almost 60% of the vote in defeating City Councilman Jeremy Blake, a Democrat who had previously served as Newark School Board president. Hall defeated Anthony Hottinger with 67 percent of the vote in 2015, and edged Max Sutton with 51 percent in 2011.
No Democrat has yet announced a mayoral candidacy or filed with the Licking County Board of Elections. The filing deadline is Feb. 1.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Mayor Hall announces bid for fourth term, longest in Newark history
