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Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher
Cleveland, Ohio- Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones
won the endorsement of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party again Saturday morning, thwarting an attempt by Party Chairman David Brock to get the party's executive committee to reverse its original endorsement of Aug. 6.
Cuyahoga County is a Democratic stronghold that includes Cleveland and is Ohio's second largest county, behind Franklin County, which includes Columbus, the state capital and the state's largest city, in front of Cleveland.
The endorsement meeting was held on Zoom, and Jones won it hands down.
Though Jones has not publicly raised the issue of race relative to the controversy, his supporters have said that potential racism could not be ruled out, and that White elected officials have not been treated like Jones, including a previously indicted White common pleas judge who won the party endorsement and was later convicted of public corruption charges, removed from the bench, and sentenced to prison.
Ward 1 is Cleveland's second largest voting bloc of its 17 wards with its staunch middle-class segment of east side Black voters, and it is the city's largest Black voting bloc.
The primary is Sept. 9 and Jones is up for reelection via the 2025 nonpartisan election for mayor and city council members. The general election is Nov 4.
Jones, 56 years old and Black, had originally won the county Democratic Party endorsement for re-election earlier this month.
The executive committee bylaws do forbid a member of the executive committee from endorsing the opponent of an endorsed candidate and executive committee members can be removed for doing so.
Jones insisted in a letter sent Wednesday that Brock was violating the party bylaws by arbitrarily holding a second endorsement session.
"I am writing to formally object to the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party's decision to schedule a second endorsement meeting for Ward 1," Jones wrote in his letter to Brock," a copy of which was secured by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader.
Jones accused Brock of violating party bylaws and said he was acting in the best interest of one of his opponents, state Rep. Juanita Brent, vice chair of the county Democratic Party and a Cleveland Democrat and lifelong resident of Ward 1 like Jones. Brent is also Black.
The councilman said Brock is acting more like a Republican than a Democrat.
"As one of my opponents is a party officer [Brent], it seems to me that the party is employing unprecedented tactics to support her in this race. If you do this Mr. chairman, the Democratic Party will become just like the Republicans, showing no regard for the rule of law or history," Jones wrote.
Jones is currently serving his second stint as Ward 1 councilman after being elected in 2017, and again in 2021. He was previously the Ward 1 councilman from 1998-2005.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and the Midwest.Tel.216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com
