Justin Morris Bibb (born April 26, 1987) is an American politician and former non-profit leader serving as the 58th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio since January 2022. Prior to serving as mayor, he was the Chief Strategy Officer of Urbanova, a startup in the government sector now known as Novara Energy Alliance. Bibb was the on the board of Teach for America – Ohio, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, and LAND Studio.
On November 2, 2021, Bibb won the city's mayoral election, defeating President of Cleveland City Council, Kevin J. Kelley, becoming Cleveland's fourth African American mayor, and its second youngest.
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Early life and education
Bibb was born in Cleveland and grew up in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood and on the southeast side in Garfield Heights, Ohio. Bibb's father Donald was a police officer and firefighter, and his mother Charlene Nichols-Bibb was a social worker for the elderly. His mother said he wanted to be mayor of Cleveland since he was 16 years-old after he completed a high school civics program.
Bibb is a graduate of Trinity High School. After high school, he attended American University in Washington, D.C. where he earned a B.A in Urban Studies. During his undergraduate degree, he studied abroad at the London School of Economics where he completed The General Course program in Social Policy and Economics. In 2014, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University School of Law and received his JD and MBA.
Early career
Bibb served as an intern for then-Senator Barack Obama in 2007 and began working in local government in 2011 for as a special assistant to Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald. Bibb worked on education initiatives, including FitzGerald’s college savings program to motivate parents to start saving early for college through a tax-free account, but the plan was ultimately scrapped for a lack of participation from parents.
After 18 months in 2012, Bibb left to become a management consultant in corporate strategy for Knowledge Generation Bureau in New York City. He returned to Cleveland in 2014 to briefly work for FitGerald and he co-founded Hack Cleveland to advocate for criminal justice reform using civic technology. While in law school he clerked for BigLaw firm Squire Patton Boggs. In his last year of law school, he took a senior position at Gallup, Inc. through a close friendship with Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton. He stayed at Gallup until 2018.
Bibb returned to Cleveland to serve as vice president of corporate strategy at KeyBank in 2019. 17 months later he left to work as an executive at Urbanova, a data company for local governments. Before entering politics, WKYC reported that he had not held the same job for more than two years.
Political career
2021 Cleveland mayoral campaign
Bibb announced his candidacy for mayor of Cleveland in early 2021, with a message of new leadership and a sense of urgency to Cleveland's problems. He called public safety his number one priority. Three months after launching his committee, Bibb's campaign announced that it had raised $180,000, more than every candidate besides Frank G. Jackson raised in the 2017 primaries. According to a December 2020 poll, Bibb had just 2% support among likely voters.
Bibb was one of seven candidates to make the ballot.
During the campaign he brought attention to predatory property owners in Cleveland by calling out well-known out-of-town landlord Holton Wise at a press conference.
On August 8, 2021, Bibb was endorsed by the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's major newspaper. On August 18, 2021, Bibb was endorsed by two former Cleveland mayors, Michael R. White and Jane Campbell.
On September 14, 2021, Bibb placed first in the mayoral primary, advancing him to the November 2 general election alongside City Council President Kevin Kelley. Bibb was then endorsed by dozens of prominent Black pastors including Revs. Otis Moss Jr. and E. T. Caviness. He was also endorsed by previous primary opponents Zack Reed and Sandra Williams.
Bibb faced criticism during the general election for exaggerating his role in FitGerald's office, for not holding a job for more than two years during any single stretch, and for poor attendance during his public appointments to the local government committees. WKYC reported that he missed 13 RTA board meetings, and 40% of the Cleveland Charter Review Commission meetings. Bibb responded that he was traveling a lot for work, as well as juggling his board appointments and his jobs at Gallup and later at Key Bank.
On November 2, 2021, Bibb defeated Kelley in the general election, receiving 62.86 percent of the vote, with a turnout of 23%. Bibb won 12 of Cleveland’s 17 wards, included winning 9 of 10 East Side wards with 70% of the vote or more.
Mayor of Cleveland
On January 3, 2022, Bibb was sworn in as the 58th Mayor of Cleveland.
Citizens initiated a recall petition in 2026, citing "incompetence, accountability and transparency issues, and gross fiscal mismanagement", but they failed to collect enough signatures. Axios called the effort a "long shot" due to Bibb winning reelection with 75% of the vote less than a year before.
In June 2023, Bibb claimed that judges were being too lenient on gun violations and in setting bail amounts, and called it "frankly unacceptable." News 5 Cleveland asked five times for concrete examples, but Bibb and the city did not provide any.
In July 2023, Bibb announced an initiative to close Cleveland's police officer shortage. In August, the Bibb administration, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association and Fraternal Order of Police, agreed to change officer shifts to 12 hours to spread out staffing and reduce overtime payments and offer a pay increase to Cleveland officers. The changes placed the Cleveland Police Department in the 75th percentile for officer salary in Ohio. In November 2023, Bibb called to raise the maximum age to join the police force from 40 to 55 to increase recruits.
In October 2023, Bibb announced $10 million over the next 25 years towards public safety grants for violence reduction programs. The money would come from the American Rescue Plan.
Bibb initially supported the creation of a civilian oversight board that would increase accountability of the Cleveland Police Department. Cleveland voters passed the initiative known as Issue 24 in 2021, and a commission was created made up of 13 Cleveland community members who make decisions surrounding the department's training, recruitment, and disciplinary actions. Signal Cleveland reported in 2026 that Bibb's stance on the oversight commission had been "evolving," and his administration opposed implementation and Bibb suggested changing the ordinance. Bibb said "I believe in the intent and the spirit of what Issue 24 wanted to become." The commission has also been plagued by police and community member commissioners not showing up to meetings.
Economic development
The Bibb administration used $50 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding to start converting vacant lots and brownfields into shovel-ready job sites.
In 2023, Bibb announced new municipal income tax credits to businesses, with the goal to stimulate new economic development tool in the city.
In March 2024, City Council passed legislation creating a tax increment financing district in Downtown Cleveland that Bibb proposed to subsidize private redevelopment through tax breaks. It is estimated to generate between $3.5 billion to $7.5 billion in new revenue over the next 42 years.
Personal life
His first cousin once-removed is journalist Leon Bibb.