Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Today, former vice president Mike Pence filed formal paper work ahead of his expected announcement on Wednesday by video from Iowa that he is running for president in 2024. He joins a growing list of prominent contenders for the Republican nomination, including former president Donald Trump, whom he served with for a contentious four years in the White House.

By the end of the week the list of candidates for the GOP primary is expected to grow to 10 as a grand jury continues to hear evidence on whether to indict Trump on federal charges relative to his handling of some 11,000 White House classified documents during and after his time as president.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie's announcement that he too is running is slated for Tuesday, and he and Pence follow Florida Gov. Ron Desantis' grand announcement last week of his presidential bid. Desantis' announcement was steeped in controversy with the NAACP, the nation's most prominent Civil Rights organization, calling him racist and advising Blacks and others against traveling to Florida

According to polls, Trump is currently the undeniable front-runner for the Republican nomination for president. . It remains to be seen what excitement, if any, the dull Pence, also a former Indiana governor, will bring to the campaign forum, and whether he can handle Trump as an adversary on the campaign trail. Once friends and political running mates, they are now at odds with one another.

Following his upcoming announcement on Wednesday, Pence will appear on CNN for an evening town hall in Iowa. It follows Sunday's CNN town hall with Nikki Haley. She is the former governor of South Carolina and is also among the announced GOP wannabees for next year's race for the White House, as is Sen. Tim Scott, also of South Carolina and a conservative and the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate.

In a poll by Real Clear Politics Trump is leading  the field of GOP candidates with 53% of GOP primary voters. DeSantis is in second place at 22%, and Haley and Pence poll at 4% and 3%, respectively

President Joe Biden, who ousted Trump in 2020 to win the presidency via an election that culminated in the Jan 6 insurrection at the Capitol that left five people dead and several others injured, faces Robert Kennedy Jr. and author Marianne Williamson for the Democratic nomination for president.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and 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

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Staff article

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Staff article

COLUMBUS, Ohio-Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, the city's fourth Black mayor and its youngest at 36-years-old since Dennis Kucinich, will participate in the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Columbus this weekend, a gathering for mayors of cities with at least 30,000 residents.

The 91st annual meeting is from June 2-5 and will be presided over by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez with Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther serving as the host. Some 200 mayors from across the country are expected to attend, including some 18 Ohio mayors, also including Akron's new mayor, Kahlil Seren, and the mayors of Cleveland Hts, Elyria and Lorain.

Cleveland's mayor, who leads Ohio's second largest city behind Columbus, is scheduled to deliver remarks on climate issues, gun violence, entrepreneurial programs, business and technology, and the economy. He told reporters that his focus will be gun violence.

In spite of never holding office before, Bibb, a Democrat and native Clevelander, was the top vote-getter in a seven-way primary in 2021  He ran for an open seat as to the retirement of longtime former mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor who did not seek reelection after four terms in office.

A former banker and non profit executor, his campaign platform focused on decreasing crime and reforming the city's troubled police department. He went on to win the nonpartisan primary election with then council president Kevin Kelley, a White former White west side councilman and now common pleas judge, placing second. Thereafter, he won the general election with 63 percent of the vote compared to Kelley's 37 percent.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and 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.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate passed a debt ceiling bill Thursday night that averts what could have been a first-ever default had Congress not passed the measure by the June 5 deadline. All that is needed now is for President Joe Biden to sign the controversial measure into law, which he has promised to do.

If the June 5 deadline had not been met, the nation's bills would have gone unpaid, according to the treasury department, and the country would have ultimately fallen into default for the first time in American history.

Thursday's Senate vote on Capitol Hill was 63-36 with four Democrats, 31 Republicans and one Independent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, voting no. Sen Sherrod Brown, a seasoned Democratic lawmaker who resides in Cleveland, voted yes and Ohio's other U.S. senator, J.D. Vance, a Republican neophyte elected to the Senate for the first time during the November midterm elections, voted against the bill.

The congressional legislation at issue suspends the country's $31 trillion debt limit for two years until 2025 to avoid a government shutdown and to allow for the government to keep borrowing money so it can pay its bills on time. It passed the Republican-dominated House of Representatives on Wednesday, 314-117.

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed for a bipartisan compromise before the House passed the bill earlier in the week, though 71 House Republicans and 46 Democrats voted no.

"The bipartisan budget agreement is not perfect, but thanks to Democratic leadership through the negotiations process, we arrived at a bipartisan agreement that funds our government while protecting critical programs for working people and growing the economy for everyone," Rep. Emilia Sykes told Clevelandurbannews.com in a press release on Wednesday after the House passed the measure.

Sykes is an Akron Democrat who voted for the bill and one of three Black members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio.

The other two Black federal lawmakers from Ohio, Rep Joyce Beatty of Columbus and Rep Shontel Brown, a Warrensville Hts Democrat, were also among the Congressional Democrats who voted yes.

The president was elated as to his win relative to the debt ceiling It is the first major political compromise reached by the House under the leadership of Speaker McCarthy since the Republicans wrestled the House away from Democrats via the November midterm elections. And it comes as the 2024 presidential election nears.

The liberal lawmakers who voted against the debt ceiling legislation, including Sen Bernie Sanders, a progressive, and Reps Alexandra Ocaseo-Cortez of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri, also progressives, say in large part that it is risky and will wreak havoc on the economy, and that marginalized groups remain subordinated.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and 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.