CLEVELAND — Editor's note: Video at the top of this story was originally published on Aug. 3, 2021.
After campaigning for months by promising to work with President Joe Biden if elected to Congress, Democratic candidate Shontel Brown received the formal backing of the president today heading into Tuesday’s general election.
It’s a safe bet for the president. Brown faces Republican Laverne Gore in a district that heavily favors Democrats.
The real contest took place in the special Democratic primary to fill the seat left vacant by former Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Brown faced former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, who ran an aggressive campaign backed by progressive and established Democratic leaders. The race was viewed nationally as a test of President Biden and mainstream Congressional leaders to fend off the more progressive wing of the party.
Brown, a Cuyahoga County Councilwoman and head of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, beat Turner by about five percentage points to make it to the run off. If Brown wins Tuesday, she will have to defend the seat again in 2022.
“A native Clevelander, Shontel Brown always puts the people first and it’s that perspective we need in Congress today," Biden said in a statement released through Brown's campaign. "I started off as a former County Council member from Delaware and it’s an experience that’s still with me now as president. Shontel’s experience as a Cuyahoga County Council member will be critical as we beat the pandemic and make transformational investments to build our economy back better around working people and the middle class. I am proud to endorse Shontel Brown for Ohio’s 11thDistrict in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Brown said she was grateful for the president's support.
"The president's agenda will bring economic relief and quality health care to all Americans," Brown said in a statement. "I have always been a unifying leader, willing to roll up my sleeves to get the job done. I am committed to working with Democrats in Washington and will do everything in my power to make ‘Build Back Better’ possible.”