By field reporter Johnette Jernigan and editor Kathy Wray Coleman

Clevelandurbannews.com

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio - Former president Barack Obama (pictured) spoke to a capacity crowd in Cleveland Thursday night at the now defunct East High School, and stomped for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray and Cordray's running mate for lieutenant governor, Betty Sutton, and for the entire ticket of Dems seeking statewide office this November.

"It's good to be back in Cleveland," said Obama, after taking the podium behind an introduction from Cordray, his D.C. consumer watchdog who directed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and whom he credits with taking on Wall Street and crooked banks and mortgage companies under his presidency.

In addition to Cordray and Sutton, the statewide Democratic ticket includes state Rep Kathleen Clyde, candidate for secretary of state, former U.S. district attorney Steve Dettelbach of greater Cleveland for attorney general, former congressman Zack Space for auditor 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.

The event was held on Cleveland's largely Black east side in the heart of its inner city in the Saint Clair- Superior neighborhood of Ward 7.

Black people lined the outside of East High School and some nearby streets to get a glimpse of Obama, an oratory genius who rose from humble beginnings as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago to a U.S. senator and ultimately president of the United States of America, the nation's first Black president.

Cordray and Sutton were also among the speakers, as were U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, state Rep Clyde, who took on gerrymandering in her speech and said she will protect the right to vote if elected secretary of state, state Rep. Howse, whose 11th state house district includes Ward 7, and Shontel Brown, chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and a Cuyahoga County councilwoman.

The county Democratic party's first Black female chairperson, Shontel Brown pushed voting, and party solidarity.

It was standing room only as more than 3,000 people packed the school gymnasium, another thousand or more occupying the overflow venue.

"Give it up for the next governor of Ohio, Richard Cordray" said Obama, who served two terms as president, from 2009-2017.

The former president courted the Black vote, Ohio, no doubt, a pivotal state for presidential elections, and Cuyahoga County, which is roughly 29 percent Black and includes the largely Black city of Cleveland, a Democratic stronghold.

"There will be racism after you vote, there will be poverty after you vote," said Obama. "Voting will not solve everything but it will make things better."

Aside from Howse and Shontel Brown, Black leaders and elected officials there include Cleveland Councilmen Joe Jones, Kevin Conwell and Basheer Jones of Ward 7, former councilmen Jeff Johnson and Zack Reed, County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell, Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Charles Patton, and state Rep. Janine Boyd.

Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley was also in attendance as were community activists from across Northeast Ohio, and union members representing SEIU and a cadre of other labor organizations, among others.

Councilman Basheer Jones said he was pleased that Obama chose Ward 7 to deliver his message of hope and to campaign for fellow Democrats, and Conwell, councilman in nearby Ward 9, said he was impressed by the get-out-the vote strategies offered at the campaign rally on Thursday.

Judge Patton, a seasoned Cleveland judge and former Ward 1 councilman, told Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com that something has to be done about the large number of young people in jail, and that he supports peaceful protests on issues of public concern.

Republicans currently control the governor's office, the Ohio House of Representatives, and the state Senate, though political pundits predict that Democrats are likely to take control of the state house this year.

Like other major urban cities, Cleveland faces urban blight, heightened poverty, increased crime, declining population dynamics, struggling public schools, and escalating infant mortality rates.

Obama said unemployment decreased when he was in office, that some 20 million more people have heath care since the Affordable Care Act, poverty has gone down, women are more safe in the workplace, and greedy payday lenders and student loan entities can no longer do as they please.

The Republicans, and his successor, current president Donald Trump, are reaping the benefits from his eight years as president, he said. Yet they remain angry, and disgruntled.

"We worked hard to turn this economy around and Rich [Richard Cordray] was there," Obama said. "They didn't break a sweat."

Both Cordray and Obama chastised Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Cordray's Republican opponent for governor, as a corporate junkie who sued to get rid of protections for preexisting medical conditions as soon as he took office.

Obama said that the country is in danger under President Trump, and is moving in the wrong direction.

"This is not normal what we are seeing," he said."This is radical."

Deborah Gray, a precinct committeewoman in Ward 4 in Cleveland, said Obama's speech was uplifting and motivating.

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"To see our best former president Barack Obama come in and motivate this crowd like he did, I trust that there will be a November 6, 2018 voting wave in Cleveland," said Gray.