Dayton City Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss plans to challenge incumbent Jeffrey Mims Jr. in this year’s mayor race.
Turner-Sloss, who is finishing her first term as a city commissioner, filed candidate petitions by the Friday afternoon deadline to take on Mayor Mims, who is finishing his first term as mayor after serving two terms as a city commissioner.
Turner-Sloss and Commissioner Darryl Fairchild at times have clashed with Mims and the other two members of the commission (Matt Joseph and Chris Shaw). They have disagreed and argued over the city’s finances, spending priorities and other topics.
Commissioner Fairchild filed petitions to seek reelection, and four others also submitted signatures to run for the two open city commission seats: Jacob Davis, Karen Wick, Valerie Duncan and Darius Beckham.
There will be a spring run-off election in the city commission races if all five petitions contain enough valid signatures for the candidates to get on the ballot. There will not be a run-off election in the mayor’s race since only two people have filed paperwork to try to vie for the seat.
The Montgomery County Board of Elections will meet on March 18 to consider and approve or reject the petitions it received, said Jeff Rezabek, board director.
Mims, a retired educator who served on both the Dayton and state-level school boards, joined the city commission in 2014 and served two terms before being elected mayor, filling the seat vacated by Nan Whaley, who decided to run for governor.
Commissioner Turner-Sloss is a former city employee who works as a logistics management specialist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. She was elected to the commission in 2021.
Commissioner Fairchild, who is the manager of chaplain services at Dayton Children’s Hospital, first won a seat on the commission in mid-2018 during a special election to replace Joey Williams, who resigned. He was reelected in 2021.
Karen Wick, the co-owner of Coco’s Bistro, a popular Dayton restaurant, is a two-term member of the Dayton Board of Education. Commissioner Shaw has endorsed Wick in the upcoming election, and Mayor Mims attended the event where she announced her candidacy.
Jacob Davis (full name is Charles Jacob Davis) is a local attorney who served as a civil rights investigator for the city from 2020 to 2022. Davis says he now focuses on helping small businesses, real estate professionals, fair housing organizations and nonprofits.
Darius Beckham is Mayor Mims’ senior policy aide. He has been heavily involved in some of the mayor’s initiatives, including a recently launched peace and violence interruption campaign.
Valerie Duncan worked in zoning administration for the city’s building department before retiring after 31 years. She has run for city commission multiple times but has yet to prevail.
Mims, Shaw and Joseph in the past have been endorsed by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
Turner-Sloss and Fairchild did not receive a party endorsement in their commission bids but still ultimately defeated the challengers who the party backed.
About the Author
