Pictured are former state senator and Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner (wearing eye glasses), Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairperson and County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, former Cleveland councilman Jeff Johnson (wearing maroon tie), former state representative John Barnes Jr., and former state senator Shirley Smith (wearing necklace)
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.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher, Coleman is a Black Cleveland activist and journalist, Tel: (216) 659-0473 Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland native Nina Turner, a former Ohio senator and prior city councilwoman, leads in campaign fundraising over her four top perspective Democratic challengers, namely Cuyahoga County Democratic Chairperson and County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, former Cleveland councilman Jeff Johnson, former state representative John Barnes Jr., and former state senator Shirley Smith.
But does that mean that she will ultimately win the special election for the 11th Congressional district seat that Fudge will soon vacate?
Fudge is expected to be confirmed in coming days by the Senate for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development post in President Joe Biden's cabinet.
All five of the congressional wannabes, including Turner, are Black Democrats, and Brown is the first Black and first woman to lead the county Democratic party, a party that has struggled in the last 13 years following a high profile public corruption probe initiated by the FBI and IRS that has seen scores of Democrats convicted of crimes in office, including former county auditor Frank Russo, who is currently serving a reduced 22- year prison sentence for his crimes, and his sidekick, former county party chair and county commissioner Jimmy Dimora.
Dimora was handed an excessive 28-year sentence for racketeering and other crimes as he sits in a prison cell while his attorneys continue to file useless appeals.
Brown was elected county party chair in 2017 after then chair Stuart Garson, who replaced Dimora as chair after Dimora went to prion following a 2012 trial, quit.
A Warrensville Heights Democrat and former chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus, Fudge has been congresswoman since 2008 when she replaced her friend, former congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who died suddenly of a brain aneurysm.
If and when she is confirmed as HUD secretary she will give up her powerful congressional seat and Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, per state law, will set a date for a primary election, the winner of the Democratic primary of whom is surely to be the next congressperson as Cuyahoga County, the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties, is a Democratic stronghold.
The 11th congressional district is largely Black and largely poor and includes most of Cleveland, mainly its majority Black east side, and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, and a largely Black pocket of neighboring Akron and staggering suburbs of Akron's Summit County.
Turner’s campaign manager, Liz Shirey, has said that Turner, the former co-chair of Sen Bernie Sanders unsuccessful bid for president who formerly led the progressive group Our Revolution for Sanders, has raised over a million dollars thus far.
A Fudge ally, Brown has said that Turner, a front-runner along with Brown, will need more than money to beat her in the upcoming primary election to fill Fudge's congressional seat.
Time will tell.
Barnes Jr., Johnson and Smith say they are not backing down.
Like the others, Barnes Jr. has a following too, and Smith and Johnson have both run in countywide primary races before and have done well.
The articulate Turner, also a motivational speaker, was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Ohio secretary of state in 2014, losing to Republican Jon Husted, now Ohio's lieutenant governor.
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.
