MANSFIELD — Don Bryant can now set his sights on incumbent Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker.
The 33-year-old Democrat claimed the party’s primary win on Tuesday, defeating entrepreneur and political newcomer Victoria Norris-Diez.
Bryant, nearing the end of his first term as an At-Large member of Mansfield City Council, earned 55 percent of the vote, winning 1,237-1,000, according to final, unofficial vote totals from the Richland County Board of Elections.
That means it will be Bryant against two-term incumbent Theaker in Novemeber. Theaker, 65, was unopposed in the GOP primary Tuesday.
Bryant, celebrating with supporters at Richland County Democratic Party headquarters, said his success was based on staying positive.
“Ignoring the negative … staying in my own lane .. handling my business instead of worrying about the other team,” Bryant said. “I went into this with the mindset that I was going to win. That was it. No (other) expectations.
“The key was getting out, talking to people and finding out what their concerns were.”
Bryant said he will continue the same path in the campaign against Theaker.
“I will keep doing what I am doing. Staying positive. People don’t like all that divisiveness they are seeing across the country. It’s important we continue to work together as a city. Do that and hit the campaign hard,” Bryant said.
Norris-Diez, 37, credited Bryant’s success to his past political experience.
“I think it was an uphill campaign,” she said. “Voters have had a chance to see his name and photograph and that built a trust. As an entrepreneur and underdog, you take that chance and do the best you can.”
Norris-Diez said she may try politics again.
“Mansfield is on the cusp of something great. It’s thirsty for leadership. Whatever I can do to help that, I will,” she said.
Bryant is in the final year of his first four-year term as an At-Large member of the Democrat-controlled Mansfield City Council, serving as chairman of the Safety and Airport committees.
Bryant, of 913 Brookfield Dr., #3, graduated from Mansfield Senior High School before earning a bachelor’s degree in political science/international relations from the Ohio State University in 2011, and a master’s degree in education from Capella University in 2013.
Bryant has worked in education, including a stint as a teacher in Mansfield City Schools. He left a job at the University of Akron in 2018 to focus full-time on his campaign.
