Candidate Profile: Evan Holt
Growing up, City Council candidate Evan Holt moved around quite a bit. “We lived all over this city. It’s hard for me to identify with one specific neighborhood because we had to go where the rent was good,” said Holt. The neighborhood that stuck out the most was Kennedy Heights, where he lived with his mother, his aunt and his grandparents. His mom is a Social Worker who graduated from Xavier University but Evan himself has dabbled in the film industry as well as working within the restaurant and food service industry. “Over the entirety of my mom’s career, all she has done is helped people. As a social worker, her work has centered around helping abused children, people struggling with addiction and individuals with disabilities,” Holt told me. “But she’s always lived pay check to pay check and that has really bothered me; that a social worker has to always be worrying about their material needs despite all they do for people.”
Cincinnati City Council Candidate, Evan Holt.
Holt attended Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts starting at about age 7 and focused on jazz piano and composition as well as writing. After graduating, he lived in Austin, Texas for a short time to check out their film scene. What he observed during his time in Austin was the rising cost of housing due to gentrification. Upon returning to Cincinnati, he noticed the same thing was happening in Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine neighborhood. “Like a lot of Cincinnatians, I am a renter. One of my top priorities if elected is expanding affordable housing across the city. No matter your income, our residents deserve quality housing that is safe and stable,” Holt told me. Holt also explained that if he’s elected, he’ll fight for increased funding to the Human Services budget. “By increasing funding to Human Services, the city can better manage the affordable housing crisis, the drug crisis as well as the mental health crisis. We need to operate from a nurturing point of view when tackling these issues,” Holt said. Other issues Holt would prioritize include pedestrian safety, investing in infrastructure and working to increase wages in our region.
In terms of labels, Holt has always voted strictly Democrat because that is the party that most closely aligns with his political beliefs. He interviewed to receive the Hamilton County Democratic Party endorsement, but he did not get it. One endorsement he did receive was the Democratic Socialists of America. “I personally don’t consider myself a Socialist, but some of my views may be considered Socialist to main stream society. I personally consider my beliefs to be aligned with the Justice Democrats,” Holt explained. In a formal sense, the Justice Democrats are a progressive political action committee that helps elect progressive candidates across the country. Some of the most well-known Justice Democrats include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar. Holt explained that one of the main goals of his City Council campaign is to remove the stigma attached to certain “leftist policies” and bring them to the mainstream. “Many things that are labeled “socialism” are extremely popular when you strip away the term “socialism.” Things like expanding health coverage, ending the wage gap between men and women as well as investing in childcare,” Holt said.
Lastly, I talked to Holt about the corruption that has hamstrung City Hall and how he thinks our city can rebuild trust with its residents. “We need a lot more transparency and we need to intentionally promote civic engagement,” Holt told me. “The cronyism and corruption at City Hall has created a lot of distrust and apathy among voters.” One way to rebuild trust among city residents, Holt explained, is for City Council and the Mayor to intentionally improve resident’s day-to-day lives. “People want to see a positive change in their living circumstances and not all the partisanship bickering,” Holt said. When it comes to the always controversial development deals our city hands out to real-estate developers, Holt believes that the needs of city residents should be front and center of every development deal. “There should be an affordable housing aspect to every development deal that involves housing,” explained Holt. “Our city wants to punch above its weight class and be the next Philadelphia or New York City, but we don’t want to invest in the infrastructure, affordable housing or raise wages for workers.”
In the end, Holt told me that his campaign isn’t entirely about him; it’s about creating a working-class movement within our city. “We need to ensure working class people have a seat at the table at City Hall and that is what this campaign is about,” Holt concluded. At the time of writing this post, there are 24 candidates who have officially qualified for the ballot, and Holt is one of them. The field is large and only nine candidates will be elected to serve on Cincinnati City Council. You can find out more about Evan Holt at his website here and you can vote for him on Tuesday, November 9th.
This post is a part of Cincinnati Delusion’s Candidate Profiles for the upcoming 2021 November election in Cincinnati and Hamilton County. We here at Cincinnati Delusion believe it is important to highlight the perspectives of women, people of color as well as members of the LGBTIA+ community. You can read our previous candidate profiles below:
· Stacey Smith (Cincinnati City Council Candidate)