Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. 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.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio - Tickets to hear former Democratic president Barack Obama, who will speak at a campaign event for Ohio Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray on Thursday, September 13, 2018 at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District East Professional Center Gymnasium at 1349 E. 79th St. and Superior Avenue in Ward 7 in Cleveland (The old East High School), are all gone, organizers said Tuesday.

Though the event is free and open-to-the public, tickets were distributed at various campaign for organizing offices throughout Northeast Ohio, and elsewhere.

Doors open at 5 pm and Cordray and his lieutenant governor running mate, Betty Sutton, a former Ohio congresswoman, are among the speakers.

Obama is slated to speak at 7 pm.

According to a Cordray campaign press release, Obama will also be campaigning in Cleveland for Democratic U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, a front-runner in his race against Republican congressman Jim Renacci, and for the Democrats running in statewide elections this year, including for auditor, attorney general and secretary of state.

"President Obama will discuss what is at stake for Ohioans in 2018, highlighting the need for Ohio's governor to expand economic opportunity to more Ohioans and protect their families' access to quality affordable health care," Cordray campaign press spokesman Mike Gwin told Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.

Black Democratic operatives of Ohio agree that Blacks are the swing vote.

"The African-American vote in Ohio is often the difference between winning and losing for a candidate in a close race," said Charles E. Bibb Sr,. a former East Cleveland councilman and head of the Carnegie Roundtable of Cleveland.

In addition to Cordray and Sutton, the statewide ticket includes former U.S. district attorney Steve Dettelbach of greater Cleveland for attorney general, former congressman Zack Space for auditor of state, state Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-75) for secretary of state, attorney Rob Richardson for state treasurer, and Judges Melody Stewart and Michael P. Donnelly for open seats on the all-Republican and all-White seven-member Ohio Supreme Court.

Donnelly is a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge.

Stewart, an 8th District Appeals Court judge, and Richardson are the only Blacks running statewide on the Democratic ticket.

The 8th District Court of Appeals serves Cuyahoga County, a Democratic stronghold and the second largest of 88 counties statewide. The county is roughly 29 percent Black, and includes the largely Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland, which is led by Mayor Frank Jackson, a Black Democrat,

Congresswomen Marcia L Fudge and Marcy Kaptur, whose congressional districts include Cleveland, are also running for reelection as Democrats, but without any serious opponents, and there are a host of other Democratic congressional candidates seeking office in Ohio as the Nov. 6 general election nears.

Fudge is one of two Blacks in congress from Ohio, the other of whom is Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Columbus, who is also up for reelection.

The Dems have not won the governor's office since Ted Strickland in 2006, and he was ousted in 2010 by Gov. John Kasich, the term-limited Republican who lost a bid for the nomination for president in 2016.