OH-11: Succeeding Stephanie Tubbs Jones

With the memorial service concluded and the September 5th deadline for filing approaching, the issue of who will succeed Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Cleveland) as the Democratic candidate in this heavily Democratic district is coming to a head.

The Plain Dealer reported today that Mayor Marcia Fudge (D-Warrensville), a former Tubbs Jones chief of staff, is officially running. I have also received strong indications that former Ohio Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss (D-Cleveland) and 1998 congressional primary candidate Rev. Marvin McMickle (D-Cleveland) are in the mix. I am told that County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones (D-Cleveland) will announce that he is not running, apparently out of concern that his commission seat would be lost to Mayor Deborah Sutherland (R-Bay Village) if he were to drop his bid for re-election. (A write-in candidate would have to be substituted for him.)

What I don't know at this point is who else may be in the running. At one time I heard that two members of Cleveland City Council, Sabra Scott Pierce and Nina Turner, might be possible candidates. Who else may be considering a bid I do not know.

UPDATE: A reader indicates being approached about supporting Michael Ryan (D-Cleveland), a Municipal Court Judge, for the congressional ballot. His official biography is here.

Former Cleveland councilman Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland) was mentioned last Thursday as a possible candidate.

The Plain Dealer reports today that former state senator and current Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason (D-Cleveland), a former District Director for Rep. Tubbs Jones, is not pursuing the ballot slot and is supporting Mayor Fudge, and that State Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-Cleveland Heights) is not running for Congress either.

About 350 precinct committee members in the 11th Congressional District will meet on September 11th at Euclid High School to choose a replacement candidate for the November ballot.

2nd UPDATE: Although others have been mentioned, it appears to have come down to four candidates (in alphabetical order):

Mayor Marcia Fudge (D-Warrensville Heights)

Former state senator C.J. Prentiss (D-Cleveland)

Rev. Marvin McMickle (D-Cleveland) [link is to .pdf document]

Municipal Court Judge Michael Ryan (D-Cleveland)

3d UPDATE: Not so fast. The Plain Dealer reported yesterday that the following two individuals are also candidates:

* Bill Patmon, development consultant in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood and a former Cleveland councilman.

* Jeffrey Johnson, executive director of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and a former state senator.

Johnson was convicted of extortion realting to a kickback scheme involving liquor and lottery licenses, but told the PD that his conviction has been expunged.

County party executive committee members from the 11th District will meet next Thursday evening at Euclid High School to vote on a replacement candidate for the next term.