Aftab Pureval

Some Lesser Known Facts About Aftab Pureval

• Aftab Pureval was born and raised in Xenia, Ohio.

• Aftab was born to immigrant parents. His father, Devinder Singh Pureval, is a Punjabi from India, while his mother, Drenko, is a refugee from Tibet.

• When he was 4 years old, his family moved from Xenia to Beavercreek.

  

• Pureval showed an interest in politics from a young age. In eighth grade, he ran for class president and won his first student government election.

• In an interview, Aftab mentioned that during the election, his slogan was “Big, Brown and Beautiful.” He added he faced anti-immigrant rhetoric when his opponent used the slogan “Vote for the American candidate.”

• In 2001, Aftab did a small role in the independent film Blue Car.

• As a freshman at Ohio State University, he interned for the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and later served as the organization’s intern director and chief of staff. During his senior year, he was elected as USG President.

• In 2005, Aftab enrolled at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he served as editor of the university’s law review journal while working at the Warren County Domestic Relations Court.

• After earning a Juris Doctor in 2008, Pureval moved to Washington, D.C., to start as an associate at White & Case LLP, where he worked for four years in the area of antitrust litigation.

• In 2012, he returned to Ohio, worked as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the United States Department of Justice.

• In November 2013, Aftab started working as legal counsel for Procter & Gamble, Ohio. He worked at P&G for four years.

• Aftab Pureval also served as the global brand attorney for Olay.

• In October 2015, Aftab Pureval announced his candidacy for the position of clerk of courts for Hamilton County, Ohio.

• Even though his opponent, Makecy Winkler, came from a family of prominent local politicians, he was a well-known incumbent in local politics. However, Pureval raised significantly more in campaign funding by mid-summer, having accumulated $210,000 compared to Winkler’s $70,000. Additionally, Pureval began to receive considerable press coverage.

• On 8 November 2016, Pureval was elected as clerk of courts. He beat Winkler by a margin of 18,673 votes (out of 388,411 total votes cast).

• Soon after being elected, Pureval resigned from his counsel position at P&G and joined his clerk position full-time.

• After officially taking Office, he made some significant changes in the office. He even received criticism for some of his hiring decisions, which include bringing officials from other parties and workers from private industry.

• In May 2017, under the guidance of Aftab, the clerk of the courts’ office relaunched its website with support for mobile devices.

• In July 2017, he announced new policies for lower-wage workers. According to that, all workers would now be paid not less than $16 per hour and would be able to receive pay during extended absences to care for newborns or sick relatives.

• He also implemented protections against discrimination for LGBTQ workers and established a help center staffed by volunteers from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

• On 3 November 2020, he was re-elected as the clerk of the courts.

• After his second successful win, many local news commentators and political insiders speculated that Aftab would run for a higher office. Ohio Democratic Party’s chair David Pepper called Aftab Pureval, one of the rising young stars of Ohio.

• In January 2018, Pureval was recruited by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). On 31 January 2018, he announced his candidacy for the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio.

• For his election campaign, he was endorsed by the Indian American Impact Fund, a political action committee (PAC) focused on representation for Americans who have roots in India.

• In March, the DCCC announced Aftab Pureval was one of nine new candidates in their “Red to Blue” program, which means his election campaign would receive additional support from the committee.

• Pureval also got the support of then-President Barack Obama.

• In August 2018, according to a report of a daily newspaper, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Pureval had spent about $30,000 of funds from his clerk of courts campaign account in the first six months of 2018, and added that he used the funds for his election campaign. However, in a public statement, Pureval’s legal team denied the statement and claimed the Fedearl Election Commission (FEC) had rejected allegations of this sort.

• Unfortunately, Aftab Pureval lost the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections to Steve Chabot.

• On January 14, 2021, Aftab announced his candidacy in the 2021 Cincinnati mayoral election.

• On 4 May 2021, in the primary election, he was the top vote getter with 39% of the votes out of six candidates.

• On November 2, 2021, Aftab won the mayoral election. He defeated Democratic contender and former mayor David S. Mann with 66% of the vote. After his win, he became the first Asian American mayor in the city’s history.

• In 2022, Aftab was honored by the Gold House, an organization that honors asian pacific descent people for their work in advocacy and social work.

• In January 2025, Aftab Pureval announced his candidacy for re-election in the 2025 Cincinnati mayoral election. He won the primary election with over 82% of the vote.

• On 4 November 2025, Pureval won the general election and was elected as the mayor of Cincinnati for the second time. In the election, he defeated Republican candidate Cory Bowman, half-brother of vice president JD Vance, with a margin of 78% to 22%.

  

• Apart from his political career, Aftab also co-owns a restaurant named Nation Kitchen & Bar in the Pendleton neighborhood of Cincinnati.

• He enjoys photography and spending time with family.

• Aftab Pureval is an avid football lover.