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By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, Ohio –The editorial board of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, has endorsed former Ohio senator and Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner in the Democratic primary for the race between Turner and current Congresswoman Shontel Brown in Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district, which includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County. The primary election is Tues., May 3.

Brown, of Warrensville Hts, the former county councilwoman and chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, defeated Turner, her closet opponent in the crowded 2021 special primary, by 4,269 votes and is now the incumbent in the seat formerly held by Marcia L. Fudge, who is now  President Joe Biden's secretary of housing and urban development. (Elizabeth Sullivan is the director of the newspaper's editorial board, the audio of the endorsement interview of  which is available in full at the end of the PD story).

The editorial board said via its endorsement, which was published in Sunday's print edition and at Cleveland.com, the online affiliate of the PD, that Turner, 54 and a Cleveland resident, and whom the Plain Dealer also endorsed for last year's special primary election to replace Fudge, is the better candidate and that "we endorsed Nina Turner last year, and do so again this year."

Turner, says the editorial, "has the passion, experience, toughness and out-of-the-box thinking to give Cleveland a powerful, socially committed and independent congressional voice, much in the spirit of the late U.S. Rep. Lou Stokes, who successfully fought for this majority minority congressional district."

Also a Civil Rights attorney, Stokes was Ohio's first Black congress person. He retired from Congress in 1998  after serving 15 terms in the House of Representatives, and died in 2015. His younger brother and only sibling, the late car B. Stokes, was the first black mayor of Cleveland, and of a major American city.

The Turner campaign quickly embraced the endorsement and said in a press release on Monday that if she wins the congressional seat and is sent to Washington she will fight for poor people and the middle class.

"I am grateful to have the endorsement of my hometown paper yet again," said Turner. "As the editorial board noted, greater Cleveland must have a representative with the vision and tenacity to tackle the systemic issues that have long plagued our communities. The reasons I ran last time are the same that motivate me today – Congress needs an agenda that centers the poor, the working poor and the barely middle class. My run for Congress isn't about any one person. It is part of bringing Cleveland into the bigger fight against the powerful interests that are stopping progress."

In large part the politically divisive congressional race in the heavily Democratic 11th congressional district is seen as a contest between Brown and the progressive Turner, who is also a former Cleveland Ward 1 councilwoman, and between the moderate and progressive factions of the Democratic Party.

Both of them had a long list of endorsements for last year's special primary election that Brown, 46, won, including labor unions, mayors, congress people, and city, county and state lawmakers. Among others, Turner was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed her again this year, U.S. Rep Alexandra Ocasio-Cortex of New York, and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who has since retired as mayor. Six of Ohio state lawmakers out of the greater Cleveland area also supported her. Brown's endorsements included Columbus Congressman Joyce Beatty, Hillary Clinton and U.S. House Minority Whip Rep James Clyburn of South Carolina.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.