At the beginning of the week, there were at least eight candidates for the 11th congressional district. Last night, six were nominated, five accepted, and when all was said and done…
Warrensville Heights mayor Marcia Fudge got the nod. She was in the middle of an interview when it became official.
FUDGE: What are they saying?
REPORTER: You got it. You got it.
Fudge won with 175 votes from the nearly 300 members who showed up. Former state legislator CJ Prentiss came in second and Reverend Marvin McMickle third.
Before the vote, Fudge made this plea for the job.
FUDGE: I love this district. I have worked for this district for a very long time. And I believe I am the person to succeed our great congresswoman. I know what she believed in. I know what she fought for. We’re not the same. There will never be another Stephanie Tubbs Jones. I am me. But I will give you the best of my service if you give my your vote.
Fudge had been close to Stephanie Tubbs Jones—a longtime friend and briefly her chief of staff in congress. Her nomination was not a surprise—having picked up many endorsements from top officials in the past week. With her landslide victory, Fudge declared the party unified.
FUDGE: And those who, for whatever reason, felt the need to support another candidate, I know it wasn’t against me. I know it was for that candidate because we had great candidates in this race.
Some democrats had feared this race could have further fractured a party reeling from FBI investigations into a number of its top officials. Tensions grew higher this week after Fudge received the endorsement of a closed-door panel convened by former Congressman Louis Stokes and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. Some said the group was too secretive and had too much influence over the democratic process. Executive committee member Rose Allen was a critic of the Stokes-Jackson panel, and voted for CJ Prentiss Thursday night.
ALLEN: The vote tonight, the way it was conducted was a fair process but I think the other interference earlier was just not necessary.
REPORTER: Do you think the result might have been different if not for that?
ALLEN: I think it could have been different. I think people might have been much more inclined to make up their own minds if not for other people.
C.J. Prentiss agreed that the Stokes-Jackson committee might have hurt her chances.
PRENTISS: The best of all worlds certainly would have been to have the electorate pick who should be the congressperson, but here was good.
Prentiss commended Fudge for running a great race and vowed to help her going forward.
Reverend Marvin McMickle said Fudge will likely do well and respected the outcome.
McMICKLE: it was a good process. It was fair and it was open. I had ample time to make my case. The people voted; that’s what democracy is all about.
With her nomination in hand, Fudge said she plans to continue some of Tubbs Jones’ priorities.
FUDGE: I probably will chart a different path because I have different interests, but I do want to continue things that she was working on, especially those things that deal with healthcare, the disparities of healthcare, how we treat our troops when they come home, how we do re-entry programs. Those are things that are very important to me and were very important to her.
Given that the 11th congressional district is overwhelmingly democratic, Fudge is widely favored in the race against Republican challenger Thomas Pekarek on November 4th.