CLEVELAND, Ohio – The executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, led by party chair and 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Shontel Brown, overwhelmingly endorsed former University Circle Inc president Chris Ronayne on Wednesday for Cuyahoga County executive over two Black candidates. The endorsement comes amid claims by some Black Cleveland activists and Black members of the executive committee that it is premature and unfair since the deadline for filing petitions with the county board of elections is not until Feb 2.

Former Ohio Sen Shirley Smith, the other Democrat in the race along with Tariq Shabazz, who, like Smith, lost a crowded primary last year for the congressional seat in the largely Black 11th congressional district, was nominated also for the party endorsement, though Ronayne, who is White, was the clear party favorite who won 92 percent of the vote from executive committee members Wednesday night.

The winner of the May 3 primary will likely face Republican Lee Weigart for the Nov 8 general election, Weingart a former county commissioner. Two-term county executive Armond Budish, also a former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, is not running for reelection for another four-year term after a turbulent last three years in office plagued with more than 10 inmate deaths in the troubled county jail and an ongoing FBI investigation of his administration.

Ronanye's party endorsement on Wednesday follows a recommendation of support by city and ward leaders at a meeting held last Saturday.

"I totally disagree with the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party doing endorsements when the deadline for filing petitions with the county board of elections to possibly get on the ballot isn't until Feb 2," said activist Marcia McCoy, a Democrat who has run unsuccessfully for Cleveland City Council and is currently president of the Cleveland chapter of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

Mike Seals, an executive precinct committee person representing Cleveland Ward 7 who participated in Wednesday's endorsement meeting for county executive and judges on Zoom that was led by Congresswoman Brown as party chair, agreed with McCoy.

Seals said that the premature endorsement of Ronayne is unfair to other potential candidates and that it creates "an unequal playing field."

Facing opposition from former Ohio senator Nina Turner for the May 3 primary, Brown, who beat Turner and 11 other candidates during last year's congressional primary, announced at the endorsement meeting that after the May 3 primary she would be stepping down as party chair and could not be reached for comment. Instead, outgoing county Democratic party executive director Helen Sheehan responded to complaints as to the endorsement debacle.

Sheehan, who announced on Wednesday that she is stepping down as executive director, said by text that the practice of endorsing candidates before the deadline for filing petitions with the board of elections has been going on for some 50 years and that it gives candidates who lose the endorsement the opportunity to file petitions to run for another office before the filing deadline.

Seals called Sheehan's explanation unacceptable, and said he wants to know how county Democratic party operatives established a list of candidates to potentially endorse when some likely candidates have yet to pull petitions.

Ronanye was elated with winning the endorsement and tweeted afterwards that he was appreciative of the support.

"Thank you Cuyahoga County Democrats for your endorsement of our campaign for Cuyahoga County executive," Ronanye tweeted. "This is about all of us, team Cuyahoga. Excited to move Cuyahoga County forward with you."

While Ronayne, who has never held public office before, may be the favorite of the mainstream media and some core county Democrats, some Black leaders had hoped that the front-runner for county executive would be a loyal Black Democrat.

Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers, a former NBA player for the Chicago Bulls and the protégé of U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Secretary Marcia Fudge, and who succeeded her into office to lead the majority Black Cleveland suburb when she became a congresswoman, was the favorite for county executive among Black leaders and some party operatives. But he abruptly dropped out of the race after the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a negative article on his candidacy and his alleged mishandling of tax abatement's as mayor, including relative to his own home in Warrensville Heights.

Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell, who is Black like Sellers, had also entered the race but quit shortly before Sellers announced that he was running.

Had Sellers stayed in the race he would have likely enjoyed Fudge's political machine, what's left of it since she became secretary of housing and urban development with President Biden's administration in March of 2020. Fudge, however, is limited in what she can do politically under the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity. This also includes campaigning for a political candidate.

A Democratic stronghold, Cuyahoga County, with Cleveland its largest city, has a population of roughly 1.2 million people and is the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties, behind Franklin County, which includes the capital city of Columbus . It is governed by a county executive, Budish, and an 11-member county council, a  county governance structure that took effect in 2011 after voters scrapped the three county commissioners and the elected offices of the county sheriff, auditor, treasurer, and clerk of courts.

Those offices, and all but the judges and county prosecutor, which is now Mike O'Malley, are appointed positions under the purview of the county executive, though county council has some leeway as to the selection of the county sheriff pursuant to a subsequent charter amendment that voters also approved.

Black leaders, led by the NAACP, then county  commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, and Fudge, who was a congresswoman at the time, opposed the change in county governance, arguing that it would dilute Black leadership, though county voters approved it by a two-to-one margin.

The county's second county executive behind former county executive Ed FitzGerald, Budish is Jewish, and four of the county councilpersons are Black, including county council president Pernel Jones, a Black Democrat. The other three Blacks on county council, who, like Jones are also Democrats, are Meredith Turner of Shaker Heights, Yvonne Conwell of Cleveland, and Cheryl Stephens. a former Cleveland Heights mayor and candidate for lieutenant governor this year on the ticket of Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.

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.