Charlie Luken
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Charles J. Luken (born on July 18, 1951, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American politician of the Democratic party who currently serves as mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Luken earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Notre Dame (Indiana) in 1973. He then entered law school at the University of Cincinnati, earning his degree in 1976, after which he started practicing law.
Rejected by the Democratic party as a successor to his uncle, Jim Luken, Luken first ran for the council as an independent, losing the at-large race in 1979. Luken served on the Cincinnati city council from 1981 to 1984, before becoming mayor. Luken served as mayor of Cincinnati from 1984 to 1991.
In 1990, Luken's father, Tom Luken, a U.S. representative from Ohio, decided to retire. Charlie then ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives to replace his father. Luken won the election, defeating another former Cincinnati mayor, Ken Blackwell. Luken began serving in the U.S. House in 1991 (102nd Congress). He declined to run for re-election in 1992.
Returning from Washington, Luken served as a news anchor at WLWT-TV from 1993 to 1999, the same Cincinnati station where ex-mayor Jerry Springer and Luken's father's onetime political opponent Tom Atkins had worked as news anchors. One of Luken's colleagues was future political opponent Courtis Fuller.
After a change in the Cincinnati city charter that made the mayoralty a separately elected office and established a "strong-mayor" form of government, Luken returned to politics. In 1999, he again took over the office of mayor of Cincinnati. In his first return term as mayor, Luken had to deal with race riots resulting from perceived racism on the part of city police.
In 2001, Luken won a second term against he former co-anchor Fuller (a Democrat running as a Charterite). The Hamilton County, Ohio, Board of Elections had begun to question the validity of Fuller's campaign because he had moved into the city only just before declaring his candidacy. Luken, however, discouraged the board from its inquiry, stating that it would not be good for the city if he had no opponent for re-election (the Republican party had not managed to field a candidate for mayor). Fuller beat Luken by 54-38 percent in the nonpartisan primary held September 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. In the general election, however, Luken managed to beat Fuller.
In August 2004, he announced he would not seek re-election to a third term. In September 2004, he briefly flirted with running for Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney as a write-in candidate because scandal plagued incumbent Michael K. Allen had no opponent. Luken reactivated his dormant law license but ultimately decided not to run.
Luken's uncle, labor leader James T. Luken, also served as mayor of Cincinnati.
Luken, who is divorced, has three children.
- Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 1st District
- List of United States Representatives from Ohio
| Preceded by: Arn Bortz | Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio 1984-1991 | Succeeded by: David S. Mann |
| Preceded by: Roxanne Qualls | Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio 1999-present | Succeeded by: None |