Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge hold coronavirus virtual town hall with residents on how the city will spend its $18 million in coronavirus federal funding....Will Jackson seek a 5th mayoral term in 2021?.....If Jackson chooses not to seek reelection, who are the potential candidates who will run for mayor next year?....Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is cutting spending relative to the coronavirus outbreak on the backs of the state's public school children....By Editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Ohio Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes Cleveland

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and 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.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor, held a virtual town hall with city residents Thursday evening, a question-and-answer forum that also included Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes the city of Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County.

Cleveland is a majority Black major American city and has a population of roughly 385,000 people.

Jackson has said that the city faces a more than $12 million financial deficit as a fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

During Thursday's virtual town hall the mayor reiterated how city officials will distribute roughly $18 million from the federal CARES Act, Jackson saying the monies are earmarked for basic residential services, including rental assistance, and that roughly $10 million will go towards  local economic development funds for small business loans.

"The forum was interesting and nice and it was good to hear from the mayor," said Cleveland resident Barbara McQueen. 

Residents trust Jackson, for the most part.

They say that in large part the four-term Black mayor has managed Cleveland rather well since becoming mayor in 2006, give or take criticism about courting big business and subordinating the problems of the inner city,

The second largest of 88 counties statewide, Cuyahoga County faces a $76 million deficit, says County Executive Armond Budish, and Cleveland's largely Black public school system that Jackson controls under state law is expected to lose $16 million as Gov. Mike DeWine has said he will cut the state budget with the state's K-12 schools taking the biggest hit.

The state of Ohio is facing a $ 777 million deficit and the governor this week announced $775 million in cuts to schools, universities, medicaid, state government agencies, as well as a reduction in economic support to municipalities and other public service entities crippled by the virus across the state.

There is no question that the governor intends to cut spending on the backs of the state's public school children, and its institutions of higher learning.

Cuyahoga County has 2,591 confirmed cases to date, and 136 deaths, 39 of those deaths out of Cleveland, which has some 825 confirmed cases as of this week.

Ohio has reported some 21, 131 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,272 deaths, the nation reporting nearly 1.3 million confirmed cases and more than 77,000 deaths.

Worldwide there are more than 3.9 million confirmed cases and more than 271,000 deaths.

And while the coronavirus outbreak is at issue, residents and the mayor's supporters and foes want to know if he will seek a fifth four-year term in 2021 when his seat and all 17 council seats are up for grabs, all of them currently held by Democrats, Jackson a former city council president turned mayor, and a Democrat too.

The issue of whether Mayor Jackson will seek reelection was not a part of Thursday's virtual forum, but it keeps coming up in political and other circles.

"The key question is whether the mayor will run for reelection in 2021, and if so, can he win, again?" said a Black greater Cleveland elected official speaking on condition of anonymity. "If Frank does not run for reelection next year, who will take the plunge from City Hall"?

That's a loaded question as the possible mayoral candidates from City Hall include Council President Kevin Kelley and councilmen Blaine Griffin and Matt Zone, all of them allies to the mayor, and  Fudge protege Councilman Basheer Jones, a rookie east side councilman and Morehouse graduate who has both youth and stamina, and the possible makings of a mayor, his supporters say.

Griffin and Jones are both Black.

Another possible candidate is Zack Reed, who is Black and a former east side councilman who lost a bid to unseat Jackson in 2017, and, though he too is a Democrat, he has been employed as a state minority affairs coordinator for Republican Secretary Frank LaRose since 2019 .

Only state Sen. Sandra Williams of Cleveland is a sure Black elected official slated to run for mayor next year as she will be term limited in 2021.

Back in town after leading Bernie Sanders' Our Revolution group and serving as his co-chair for his failed bid this year for the Democratic nomination for president, former state senator Nina Turner, also a former city councilwoman, is a possibility for a mayoral run, though she has told political insiders that she will not run if Jackson seeks reelection next year.

And former congressman Dennis Kucinich, also a former Cleveland mayor, and local restaurant-er and reentry advocate Brandon Chrostowski, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2017, are likely candidates too, sources say. 

City councilpersons cannot run for reelection and mayor at the same time by virtue of the city charter, which complicates a decision on a mayoral run in Cleveland for sitting councilpersons, eight of the 17 of them currently Black, eight White, and one of them Hispanic, west side Councilwoman Jasmin Santana, one of two women on city council along with Ward 5 Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland.

Cleveland is Black, and a Jackson supporter who took over his ward when he became mayor.

And as Jackson has since been reelected three times, so has Councilwoman Cleveland, a strong Jackson ally.

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.