East Cleveland voters oust council president and one other incumbent, and one incumbent school board member, East Cleveland of which is a majority Black impoverished suburb of Cleveland....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief at Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama  CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

 Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com -EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio-East Cleveland voters on Tuesday voted out two incumbent council persons, both allies to Mayor Brandon King and one of them the council president, and kept two school board incumbents while voting out another.

King is up for reelection in 2021.

East Cleveland is an 92 percent Black and impoverished suburb of Cleveland with a population of roughly 18,000 people, and one of the poorest communities in the state of Ohio.

But it is a Black nitche politically, and a Democratic stronghold. 

The mayor and all of the winners and losers in the council and school board races on Tuesday, aside from one candidate, are Democrats, both of them nonpartisan races.

Juanita L. Gowdy ousted Councilwoman Che Gadison, also the council president, and in ward 2, and Joie N. Graham beat Korean C. Stevenson, the other incumbent, in Ward 4.

It was a departure from usually crowded council races in East Cleveland, a two way race for both of the two open seats on the five member city council, an indication of apathy in a city that was once predominantly White, and thriving.

Now it struggles to stay afloat financially. 

The other three members of council, and whose seats are not yet up for reelection are activist Ernest Smith, the council vice president who represents ward 3, and Timothy Austin, and longtime councilman Nate Martin, both of them councilmen at large. 

For the three open seats on the East Cleveland board of Education, which is in limbo following a state takeover in 2018 that is being challenged in court, Una H. R.  Kennon and Dr. Mary Rice were reelected in a six-way race for the three seats, both Rice and Kennon incumbents.

Kennon currently serves as the board president and is a retired East Cleveland judge.

Incumbent board member Dr. Patricia Blochowiak, the only White on the board of education, lost her seat to third place winner Stephanie Stefire-Walls.

Dr. Bennanaye Brooks, the only Republican in the race, and William Fambrough followed behind Blochowiak in fifth and sixth place respectively, and, like Blochowiak, did not get enough votes to snatch one of the the three school board seats on election night.

The other two members of the school board, their seats not up for grabs this year, are Vernon Robinson and Eve Lynn Westbrooks. 

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama  CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.