University Heights mayor deletes Facebook post calling Republican council members ‘Trumpies’

hio - University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan on Thursday wrote and then deleted a Facebook post maligning two Republican city council members because they live in the only precinct in the city that President Donald Trump won in Tuesday's election.

The precinct is home to a major Orthodox Jewish population. Both council members - Michele Weiss and Sheri Sax - are Orthodox Jews.

Brennan, a Democrat and frequent Facebook poster , referred to Weiss and Sax as "MAGA council members." He accused the pair of helping three Democratic council members win election in 2023 with "red campaign money," according to a copy of the post that was provided to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

"I ask my friends and neighbors, the over 4,000 that voted for Harris, to remember and pay attention to who the Trumpies are in city government and to vote your values in next year's municipal election," Brennan wrote. "It is more important than ever that we clean up local government, and have at least one level of government that represents our values."

Brennan's comments mark the second time in recent weeks that a local elected official has taken to social media to publicly shame and target others for their political views. Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, a Republican, encouraged people on Facebook to "write down" the addresses of Kamala Harris supporter s who had signs in their yards. He later deleted the post after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Zuchowski, calling his post a threat against people who exercise their First Amendment rights.

Brennan is up for re-election in November 2025. Of the four council members Brennan named in his post, Sax is the only one on the ballot next year.

Weiss, who is also the city's vice mayor, said the post has been shared among a large portion of the University Heights community, and has upset members of the Jewish community.

"I don't think it was his intent to be portrayed as antisemitic," Weiss said. "But you have to be careful with your words when you put them out on social media."

"As a leader of the community, you need to be a role model," she said.

Brennan wrote later Thursday on Facebook that he took the initial post down after it was "misinterpreted."

"I'm focused on leading our community at a time where many are feeling vulnerable and afraid because of the outcomes of the election," Brennan wrote. "I wish I could tell them everything was going to be alright."

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Brennan on Friday through a spokesman.

The post marks the latest salvo in a war of words between the mayor and members of the city council, who for years have butted heads over everything from paying for a survey about garbage collection to replacing the city's aging municipal buildings .

A group of residents announced in March that they were collecting signatures to hold a special election to recall Brennan a little over a year into his second term. Brennan went on a local podcast shortly after and accused council and Weiss, who was in line to become mayor if Brennan was recalled, of being behind the effort.

He also accused one of the three Democrats he called out in his deleted Facebook post, Winifred Weizer, of being racist.

Weiss said she and council had nothing to do with the recall push. Weizer demanded that Brennan apologize.

The recall group announced days before it was to turn in the signatures that Weiss had called them and persuaded them to drop the effort because council and the administration needed to focus on city business and not holding a special election.

University Heights' elections are nonpartisan, and its council members are all elected at-large. In November 2023, Weiss and three Democrats - Weizer, John Rach and Threse Marshall - won reelection.

Brennan endorsed the four challengers, whom he referred to as the "Forward Slate."

In Brennan's now-deleted Facebook post, he said that Weiss, Sax, Weizer, Rach and Marshall "campaigned together," and he blamed them for the caustic relationship between him and council.

"They work lock step in opposition to my work as mayor and are responsible for the dysfunction and strident tone in city government," Brennan wrote.

In a September Facebook post about Trump and Sen. JD Vance's false claims that immigrants in Springfield were eating people's pets, Brennan accused Weiss, Sax and Weizer of saying "the same sorts of made up things."

"People are tired of made up controversies and the people who push them," Brennan said. "We are tired of the damage these people do."

Weiss wrote a post of her own to rebut Brennan's claims, which she called slanderous. Weiss also wrote that she used to call Brennan a friend.

"I am not sure what happened to him, but I hope he can find himself again," she wrote.

Brennan apologized last year after he called Sax "dumb" during a Committee of the Whole meeting.

Council censured Brennan in 2021, citing a series of profane outbursts, including calling a resident who called to complain about a neighbor having a religious gathering an "a-hole" and a "psychopath."

Brennan apologized for the outburst.