Fudge was the mayor of Warrensville Heights, a middle-class and mostly African American suburb of Cleveland, from January 2000 until November 18, 2008. Her 1999 campaign was her first run for any elected office. She was the town's first female and first African American to hold the mayorship. Fudge served as chief of staff to U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones during Jones's first term in Congress. She has also served on the board of trustees for the Cleveland Public Library.
After the death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones on August 20, 2008, Fudge was selected as her replacement on the November ballot by a committee of local Democratic leaders. This virtually assured her of election in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. Fudge won the November 4 general election, defeating Republican Thomas Pekarek with 85 percent of the vote. She was unopposed in a November 18 special election for the balance of Jones' fifth term, and won with less than 9,000 votes cast. She was sworn in on November 19, 2008.
2010
Fudge was challenged by Republican Thomas Pekarek. She was reelected with 82.5% of the vote.
2012
Fudge defeated Gerald Carver Henley and Isaac Powell in the Democratic primary with 89.4% of the vote and ran unopposed in the general election.
2014
Fudge was unopposed in the Democratic primary. She defeated Republican Mark Zetzer with 79.5% of the vote.
2016
Fudge ran unopposed again in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican Beverly A. Goldstein in the general election with 80.3% of the vote.
2018
Fudge defeated Felicia Washington Ross in the Democratic primary with 99.3% of the vote. She defeated Goldstein again in the general election with 81.9% of the vote.
Controversial role in domestic violence case
In 2015, Fudge wrote a letter asking for leniency in the sentencing of her colleague Lance Mason. Mason, an Ohio trial court judge, had punched his wife more than a dozen times, bit her and slammed her head into the dashboard and window of their SUV, breaking her eye socket in front of their two young daughters Despite the severity of the attack, Fudge described Mason as “kind,” and wrote that “Lance has assured me that something like this will never happen again.” Mason subsequently attacked and killed his ex-wife, in 2018, stabbing her 59 times. After the attack, Fudge released a statement saying she condemned the crimes committed by Mason. She said her support for Mason in 2015 was based on the person she knew for almost 30 years, writing that “the person who committed these crimes is not the Lance Mason familiar to me.”
Congressional Black Caucus
During a presentation at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 44th Annual Legislative Conference in September 2014, Fudge said that the CBC would mobilize African American voters in the 2014 midterm elections by underscoring Republican attacks on President Obama, such as claims that he was not born in the United States.
Electoral history
Personal life
Fudge is a past president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, serving from 1996 to 2000, and is a co-chair of the sorority's National Social Action Commission. In 2003, she was a member of the Shaker Heights Alumni Association's Hall of Fame Class. Fudge has been a member of the Church of God, and is now a member of Zion Chapel Baptist Church.
