Civic Register
| 3.10.21

Know a Nominee: Marcia Fudge to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Do you support or oppose Fudge’s nomination?

UPDATE 3/10/21

  • The Senate on Wednesday cast a bipartisan vote of 66-34 to confirm Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Fudge will resign from her House seat and be sworn in as secretary in the near future.

UPDATE 3/9/21

  • The Senate voted 69-30 to limit debate on the nomination of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. A confirmation vote is scheduled for midday Wednesday.

The Senate is expected to consider the nomination of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development this week, starting with a procedural vote on Tuesday and a probable confirmation vote on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know about the nominee.

Who is Marcia Fudge?

  • Fudge, 68, is an attorney and congresswoman who has represented Ohio’s Cleveland and Akron area 11th district since 2008. If Fudge is confirmed, she will resign from her House seat to join the Biden administration and has remained in office since being nominated to keep voting in the House given Democrats’ thin majority.
  • During her time in the House, Fudge served as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 113th Congress.
  • Prior to her election to Congress, Fudge worked in the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office as the director of budget and finance, as an auditor in the county’s estate tax department, and served as the mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, from 2000 to 2008.
  • Fudge earned her undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and her law degree from Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

What’s the outlook for her nomination?

  • At her confirmation hearing, Fudge was grilled about comments she made in which she said Republicans “have no decency, they have no honor, they have no integrity” and “are disgrace to this nation”; in addition to saying that GOP lawmakers “don’t care about people of color.”
  • Fudge told senators that she thinks most Republicans do care about people of color, and said she’s “always been able to work across the aisle” while adding:
“Sometimes I am a little passionate about things. Is my tone pitch perfect all the time? It is not. But I do know this, that I have the ability and the capacity to work with Republicans and I intend to do just that and that is my commitment to you.”
  • The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee advanced Fudge’s nomination on a bipartisan 17-7 vote.

What does it mean for HUD?

  • The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is responsible for national policy related to housing and community development, in addition to enforcing fair housing laws.
  • Major HUD programs include mortgage and loan insurance through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA); Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to promote economic development, job opportunities and housing rehabilitation; rental assistance through Section 8 certificates or vouchers for low-income households; subsidized housing; and homeless assistance through communities, faith-based organizations, and other non-profits.
  • HUD was created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” in 1965 by consolidating several other federal agencies.


— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Fudge: House of Representatives / Creative Commons | HUD HQ: Tim Evanson via Flickr / Creative Commons)