CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio -U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat whose 9th congressional district extends to Cleveland, on Monday endorsed former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, a Democrat running for Ohio governor in a crowded field of both Democrats and Republicans.

"You know her work," said Kaptur, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1983 and the longest serving woman in congress. "Be ready for Betty."

A Barberton Democrat and the youngest of six children, Sutton. 54, is, to date, among four Democrats seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, all of them running to replace the term-limited Gov. John Kasich, a popular governor and a 2016 unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for president whose second four-year term ends in 2019.

The others are state Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, and former state senator Connie Pillich.

Famed television host Jerry Stringer of the "Jerrt Springer Show,"  a former Cincinnati mayor who rallied in Cleveland on Labor Day in support of unions and their fight for $15-an-hour  minimum wage in Cleveland, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, are also considering a gubernatorial run as Democrats. (Editor's note: Springer's vist to Cleveland was sponsored by Raise Up Cleveland and SEIU, among other progressive groups)

Sutton served in congress from 2007 to 2012, losing that year to Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci and following the loss of two congressional seats in Ohio per an every-10-years redistricting map adopted by the Republican-dominated Ohio General Assembly.

That same year Kaptur beat then U.S. Rep Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland after they were forced to run against east other per the loss of the other congressional seat.

Republicans hold 12 of Ohio's 16 congressional seats.

Renacci is among those seeking the Republican nomination for governor, and could face Sutton again, but in a statewide race to lead the pivotal state of Ohio as opposed to a fight for a congressional seat.

The former federal lawmaker and loyal Democrat who represented Ohio's 13th congressional district, Sutton sponsored several bills while in congress, including the Protect Consumers Act of 2009, the Josh Miller HEARTS Act, the Contractor Accountability Act, and the Disability Equity Act, which, had it passed, would have eliminated the five-month waiting period currently in place for Social Security disability benefits

She was a key House architect of the American Clean Energy Act, which passed the House of Representatives in 2009 but stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Sutton was a member of the all female, bi-partisan women's baseball team created by former DNC chair and fellow House member Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

She was appointed by the White House in 2013 as an administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, a government-owned agency headquartered in Washington, D.C.that operates and maintains the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between the Port of Montreal and Lake Erie.

ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and the KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers with some 4.8 million readers on Google Plus alone. And the ClevelandUrbanNews.Com website stats reveal some 26 million hits since 2012. Tel: (216) 659-0473. 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.