Peter Melahn, Staff Writer

Attorney Evan Nolan was selected last Friday to fill Cincinnati Council Member Reggie Harris’s seat in the wake of the latter’s move to a new position in President Biden’s administration.

The Cincinnati City Council, which is composed of nine members, has local legislative responsibilities such as imposing local taxes, appointing city officials and making local budget appropriations.

There is no set procedure for filling a vacant seat on Council, but in practice, the sitting council member delegates another council member to select their replacement in the event their seat is vacated. In this case, Harris selected Council Member Meeka Owens to fill his seat. Owens announced that she selected Nolan as Harris’s replacement last Friday.

Nolan, who previously worked as an attorney in the city’s law department, has sought a appointment to City Council before.. He tossed his hat in the ring in 2022 in a bid to replace current U.S. Representative Greg Landsman’s vacated seat after the latter was elected to the House of Representatives.. While Nolan was not selected in 2022 to fill Landsman’s seat, he was successful in securing a seat this time and will now fill Harris’s seat after being sworn in on Tuesday.

Nolan, a Cincinnati native who attended St. Xavier High School, has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a placekicker from the school’s football team from 2001-2004. He received his Juris Doctor. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2010. In late 2010 he served as a Legal Fellow under Senator Sherrod Brown, and he has over a decade of experience in litigation, most recently as an attorney at local law frim, Katz Teller, in Cincinnati. Nolan also served as the campaign manager for the Hamilton County Democratic coordinated campaign last year, during which he oversaw efforts to elect all nine of the current members of Council.

Nolan’s appointment has received some critiques, especially from minority community members and political leaders, such as former city Council Member Chris Seelbach. Seelbach was the first openly gay member to serve on Cincinnati City Council.

“Appointing a cisgender, straight, White man to fill the term of Cincinnati’s first openly gay man of color is disappointing and a setback for our city,” Seelbach said on X.

Chair of the Cincinnati NAACP Joe Mallory also expressed discontent with a Black man being replaced with a White man on Council, releasing a statement from the organization. “The Cincinnati NAACP is deeply disappointed and profoundly disheartened by Councilwoman Meeka Owens’ decision on the appointment to the vacant Cincinnati City Council seat,” the press release states. “Her choice sends a harmful message − that the importance of Black representation, particularly Black male representation, can be easily disregarded.”

Nolan has received praise as well, especially from Owens, who said she wanted to pick someone who was, “ready on day one” and who would “push our priorities forward and grow our city.”

In a press conference Friday morning, Nolan addressed the media.

“I realize that I am an appointed City Council member now, but I look forward to engaging with community, meeting voters out in the community and (hopefully winning) their trust next November,” Nolan said.

While Nolan will fill Harris’s seat through the end of the 2025 term, the spot will be up for grabs along with the other eight seats on City Council in the next November election. Nolan will run to be elected for the first time to keep his seat.