Norton ousted former mayor Eric Brewer four years ago as the then city council president, and Brewer had endorsed Jordan.

With no Republican running for mayor the winner of the Democratic primary becomes mayor.

Both Norton and Jordan have allies.

Norton was backed by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, whose daddy is rich, some community clergy and police, and by the Call and Post Newspaper, among others. And Jordan, the daughter of dentist and community activist Dr. Eugene Jordan, enjoyed support from a cadre of community activists, all sitting members of the five-seat city council, state Sen Nina Turner (D-25), and Una H.R Keenon, a retired East Cleveland judge who is president of the East Cleveland Board of Education and of the Black Women's Political Action Committee of greater Cleveland.

Three council seats are up for grabs, but in November since in East Cleveland there is no primary for city council races per the municipal charter. The majority Black city of some 18,000 people, which is an impoverished suburb of Cleveland, was once a majority White affluent city with some homes dubbed "Millionaire's Row along its Euclid Ave, a segment of homes with 18 of the original of them left and which included a home owned by Standard Oil founder and billionaire John D. Rockefeller.This was before the Great Depression.

East Cleveland is also the home of General Electric's Nela Park, the world's first industrial park, one that lights up at Christmas time as an international draw to the city.