By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Cuyahoga County Democratic Party held its annual fund-raising dinner on Sun.,  April 14, 2024 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cleveland, with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown the guest speaker and former U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Marcia Fudge, who received the group's lifetime achievement award, the honorary guest for the evening.

Cuyahoga County includes the largely Black, major American city of Cleveland and is roughly 29 percent Black. A Democratic stronghold, it is the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties, behind Franklin County, which includes the city of Columbus and is also a Democratic stronghold.

Speakers at the event also included county Democratic Party Chairman David Brock, Congresswoman Shontel  Brown, previously chair of the county Democratic Party, and Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin.

Tickets for the well-attended event ranged in price from $100 for a regular ticket to $10,000 for a platinum table of 10.

Sen. Sherrod Brown is a Cleveland Democrat running for re-election this year against Republican Bernie Moreno, whom former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the presidential election in November, endorsed for Ohio's March 19 primary. Democrats hold a slim majority in the U.S. Senate and hope to keep the seasoned and popular senator aboard in Congress.

Republicans hope Moreno can beat him despite his popularity, but are cautiously optimistic about the outcome, particularly given Moreno's repeated stances against abortion, even after the Issue 1 abortion rights referendum passed at the ballot box in Ohio last November.

A Warrensville Hts. Democrat and former congresswoman representing Ohio's 11th congressional district that is now led by her protege', Rep. Shontel Brown, Fudge recently returned home from Washington, D.C. after stepping down last month as HUD secretary with the Biden administration. She was welcomed with warmth by the Dems in attendance, including several of her former constituents of the 11th congressional district. It includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County.

A wealth of city and county politicians like County Executive Chris Ronayne and members of city and county council, and candidates for office, were there, with Ohio the only state in the country where voters, if they so choose, can turn its majority Republican Ohio Supreme Court majority Democratic in November. And that is not an easy thing to do, according to past elections.

Missing from Sunday's Democratic gathering in Cleveland was President Joe Biden, who is in a heated race against Trump for re-election in November and seeks Democratic support as he campaigns across the country. Trump won Ohio over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 on his way to becoming president, and again in 2020 when he lost reelection to Biden and the Democrats. Whether Biden will actively campaign in Ohio as the November 2024 presidential election nears remains to be seen, with some pundits saying he has all but written off Ohio.

While Democrats control Cleveland and the heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County, their influence statewide is limited.

In addition to controlling the Ohio Supreme Court, which is led by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, Republicans, aside from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, hold every statewide elective office in Ohio, including the offices of governor, secretary of state, and state attorney general. Republicans also control Ohio's General Assembly and are in the majority in both the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. 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 LEADER