Young Lefty Stefan Knaack Running for Cleveland City Council in "Forgotten" Ward 11

At 23 years old, Stefan Knaack is far and away the youngest candidate for Cleveland City Council in 2021. The recent Cleveland State University alum and diehard Cleveland sports fan has announced his candidacy in Ward 11, a west side ward that includes the eastern sliver of Jefferson, the western sliver of Cudell and the residential streets off of West Boulevard.

"It also has this weird section [North of Madison]" Knaack told Scene in a recent phone interview, "that was pretty much just created to include Dona Brady's house."

Knaack currently works as a delivery driver for Jimmy John's and said his campaign is about elevating residents living on the margins and "forgotten" communities like Ward 11.

"Like a lot of people, I'm disillusioned with the way politics works in Cleveland," he said. "There's very much an 'in-crowd,' both in terms of politicians and neighborhoods. Ward 11 is not one of them."

Knaack is not a lifelong resident of the ward. As the child of divorced parents, he spent his youth in a number of western suburbs and graduated from Brookside High School in Sheffield Lake. He went on to study political science and sociology at CSU, where he was active in a number of left-wing student political organizations and with the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign of 2016. He moved to Ward 11 in 2018 with four roommates, to save money on rent.

Read more: https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2021/02/25/young-lefty-stefan-knaack-running-for-cleveland-city-council-in-forgotten-ward-11