John was raised in Cincinnati. He graduated from John Carroll University, then Harvard Law School and Harvard Divinity School. Motivated by a deep sense of social justice, John co-founded the Ohio Innocence Project in 2002, which by using DNA technology has exonerated and freed 33 wrongfully convicted people. He was elected mayor of Cincinnati in 2013, and is now running for Governor. His running mate is Teresa Fedor, an Ohio State Senator, who represents the 11th District, which includes Toledo and surrounding areas.