CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has endorsed former Ohio senator Nina Turner relative to the special election for Congress in Ohio's majority Black 11th congressional district, which includes Cleveland, a largely Black pocket of Akron and select suburbs of Cuyahoga and Summit counties.
How much influence the four-term Black mayor's endorsement will have remains to be seen since he is not running for a fifth term this year, sources said.
Jackson joins other prominent Cleveland elected officials who have endorsed Turner, including state Sen Sandra Williams and Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin, who endorsed her on Monday.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has set the primary election for Aug. 3 and the general for Nov. 2 as there are seven declared candidates who hope to replace former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge in Washington, Fudge now the secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President Joe Biden's cabinet.
Jackson said he views Turner, a front-runner in the congressional race, as the best candidate.
“When we consider the needs of the 11th Congressional District and the moment we’re in as a nation - a moment that calls for a higher commitment to social justice, to create economic growth and development through the lens of equity, and to disrupt systemic issues with systemic solutions, now is the time to elect Nina Turner," Jackson said
A 2020 co-chair of Bernie Sanders' presidential bid who lost a bid for Ohio secretary of state in 2014 against Republican Jon Husted, who is now Ohio's lieutenant governor, Turner is a former aide to former mayor Michael R. White and a former Ward 1 councilwoman who was elected to city council in 2005, the year Jackson, then a city council president, won election over then mayor Jane Campbell, who succeeded White into office.
After an appointment to the Ohio senate in 2008 to an unexpired term she went on to win election and served until 2014, the year she unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state .
The mayor's endorsement tightens the contest against Turner's front-runner opponent, Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairwoman and County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, a Fudge protégé who has a list of influential endorsements too, including U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty of Columbus, Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones, and a host of unions and several suburban mayors.
It also raises questions about Jackson's relationship with Fudge since he has endorsed Turner over Brown, though Fudge has not endorsed any candidate and likely will stay out of the race as a federal employee subject to the Hatch Act.
Like Turner, who considered a run against Fudge at one point but backed down due to political pressure, Fudge has been a long time ally of Jackson, and she is a former Warrensville Heights mayor who served in Congress for 12 years until Biden tapped her for HUD secretary.
