Blackwell, J. Kenneth (John Kenneth), 1948-

John Kenneth Blackwell (born February 28, 1948) is an American politician, author, and conservative activist who served as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–80), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–99), and Ohio Secretary of State (1999–2007). He was the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio in 2006, the first African-American major-party candidate for governor of Ohio.

Born in Alliance, Ohio, Blackwell earned B.S. and M.Ed. degrees from Xavier University. After college, he was invited to the Dallas Cowboys' training camp; he gave up football when told he would have to convert from linebacker to offensive lineman. He taught at Xavier from 1974 to 1991. In 1978, he was elected as Mayor of Cincinnati as a member of the Charter Party, serving into 1980. One of his first priorities was to establish a crowd control task force, to study better methods of crowd control and injury prevention. When Blackwell began to consider statewide and national offices, he became a Republican. He was appointed to serve in the administration of President George H. W. Bush, as undersecretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1989 to 1990. He returned to Cincinnati to run for the first district seat in the United States House of Representatives which was being vacated by Tom Luken. Blackwell lost to Luken's son, Charlie Luken, by a narrow 51% to 49% margin. Following his close defeat, Blackwell was appointed by President Bush as US ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Blackwell served in that post from 1992 to 1993.

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