BREAKING : Staggering 83% of Cleveland Ward 14 Votes Santiago Out of a Job

Four years ago, then-Councilman Nelson Cintron arrived late into the evening at the Ohio City nightclub "2527" and the victory party of community activist Joe Santiago. Cintron pulled the council pin from his lapel, placed it on Santiago's jacket, and called out "my councilman." With it, he passed along the incompetence Ward 14's Councilman was known for.

Months later, Cintron would try to orchestrate a comeback by forcing a recall election on "his councilman" Santiago. The recall, fought by all 21 members of council, was defeated and Santiago, despite burning most of the bridges in his ward, kept his seat.

Tonight, as the votes are counted, the whereabouts of the lapel pin is unknown. But one thing is known. Cleveland and Ward 14 are finished with both of these nitwits for at least another four years.

Following our predictions from this morning, Councilman Brian Cummins and former Cintron Administrative Assistant Rick Nagin are headed to the November runoff. Cummins, using his organizing skills to his advantage on a very dreary day, not only beat expectations, he destroyed them beating Cintron and Santiago's totals COMBINED.

This will not be a cake walk November for Cummins, who while sleeping in the same bed now finds himself in a new ward. The very likely scenario would be a distribution of votes from Cintron going to Nagin, and votes from Horvath and D'Amico going to Cummins. That makes the general election contest just about even with Santiago and fifth place finisher Moises Torres' voters carrying the heaviest remaining influence. It's unlikely that Santiago's support means anything at this point anyway as over 83% of the ward opposed him tonight - and he doesn't even live in the ward in the first place.

So, after months of anticipation, the first round qualifiers are set and the grand finale is still two months away. Unlike the fourth of July, this time it won't be Santiago providing the fireworks.

UPDATE - Cummins emailed OhioDaily this morning to let us know he has the backing of Cintron for the General Election. He's also reached out to Santiago and Torres in hopes of earning their support.