Hillary Clinton supporters and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner to hold rally and fundraiser in Cleveland for Hillary Clinton for president, Turner, of Cleveland, is now the chair of political engagement for the Ohio Democratic Party

Hillary Clinton (left) and former state senator Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat who is now the chair of political engagement for the Ohio Democratic Party

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473.  Coleman is a community activist, political journalist and 21-year investigative journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -Former state senator Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat who lost a bid last year for secretary of state and is now the chair of political engagement for the Ohio Democratic Party, is the keynote speaker for a rally and fundraiser in Cleveland on Feb 16  from 6:30 pm-8:30 pm by the Ready for Hillary political action committee. (To R.S.V.P. and purchase tickets for the political gathering at Ready for Hillary.Com CLICK HERE ).

The event, which embraces the theme 'Cleveland for Hillary Clinton,' and adds fodder to widespread speculation that Clinton will in fact enter the race for president, will be held at the  Market Garden Brewery at 1947 West 25th Street in the Ohio City neighborhood on the city's west side. 

The host committee includes state Reps. Janine Boyd (D-9), a Cleveland Heights Democrat,  and Kent Smith( D-8), a Euclid Democrat, and Democratic caucus women Janet Carson, Cindy Demsey, Cory Shawver, Angela Shuckahosee, and  political heavyweight Lynnie Powell, the regional political director for the ODP.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $20.16, a figure that symbolically represents the year 2016, which is the year of the upcoming presidential election.

Politico reported Monday that Clinton, who won the Ohio Democratic primary in 2008 but lost the Democratic nomination for president to now President Barack Obama, has already approved a budget and moved ahead with campaign hires. She will officially announce her run for president in April, the report says.

If Clinton were to run, and subsequently win, she would become America's first female president. Ohio is a pivotal state for presidential elections, and perception wise may be the most notable state for Democratic and Republican presidential wannabe's to court. 

ODP Chairman David Pepper announced earlier this month that the state Democratic party is on a mission to support, through funding and other initiatives, local Democratic races for city council and other local offices in 2015, an effort, Democrats have said, to galvanize Democrats statewide from a grassroots perspective.

The 17 Cleveland City Council members, all of them Democrats except Green Party member Brian Cummins, are up for reelection in 2017, as is Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who, like Turner, his ally, is Black, and a Democrat. 
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)