JUST IN: Biden Reportedly Plans to Nominate Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge to Be HUD Secretary

President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly planning to tap Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge to lead the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development in his new administration.

According to Politico, the six-term Cleveland-area Congresswoman was selected after getting support from Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and House Minority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn, a key member of the Congressional Black Caucus who has pushed Biden to include more African-Americans in his cabinet. Fudge is herself a past chair of the CBC.

Fudge, who is a member of House Agriculture Committee, had been lobbying to be named as the head of the USDA. In fact, last week, she has criticized the trend of Democratic presidents pigeonholing Black officials in the same few cabinet posts.

“As this country becomes more and more diverse, we’re going to have to stop looking at only certain agencies as those that people like me fit in,” Fudge had told Politico last month. “You know, it’s always ‘we want to put the Black person in Labor or HUD.'”

The next HUD secretary faces an intense housing crisis in the country, as millions of Americans could end up evicted and/or homeless in the next few months as the economy struggles with the Covid pandemic raging out of control.