Who is Marcia Fudge? Biden administration’s HUD secretary to step down ahead of election season

Marcia Fudge announced on Monday, March 11, 2024, that she will be stepping down from her position as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary for the Joe Biden administration. Fudge noted that she was stepping down before the "crazy, silly" election season. The 2024 United States election will take place in November and will most likely feature a Joe Biden vs Donald Trump rematch.

The 71-year-old announced that she would be completely retiring from her public life and returning to her home state of Ohio. Fudge had been serving as the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary for the Biden administration for the last three years.

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"I really do look forward to being a private citizen": Marcia Fudge

Marcia Fudge held the position of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary for the Joe Biden administration for the last three years. According to USA Today, the 71-year-old spent over 50 years in the public service realm and over a decade in Congress. As the HUD Secretary, she oversaw the administration through the COVID-19-induced housing crisis.

Fudge is also the second black woman to have held the post of HUD Secretary. Before she was HUD Secretary she served as the United States representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district for quite a long tenure from 2008 to 2021.

Before that, she was the mayor of Ohio's Warrensville Heights from 2000 to 2008. The Ohio native is also a Bachelor of Science in business graduate from Ohio University and got her J.D. from Cleveland State University College of Law.

Marcia Fudge announced on Monday that she was stepping down from her position as HUD Secretary. According to USA Today, March 22, 2024 would be her last day on the job and Fudge told the outlet that it was time for her to "go home". She said that she strongly believed that she had done almost everything she could at her position.

"I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election," Marcia added.

Fudge also told the outlet that affordable housing was not an issue that might only concern the "red or blue" but was an "American issue". She revealed that $70 billion in funding was required to improve multi-family and public housing and wished that her agency had received more than $3 billion.

She added that the agency was doing everything it could with what it had and also called for bigger and faster changes. As to why she took the job at HUD during such a chaotic time-period, Marcia told USA Today it was "where God wanted" her to be and she was "obligated and honored to go."

In her resignation statement on Monday, Fudge stated that HUD served those who were "left out and left behind".

"These are my people. They serve as my motivation for everything we have been able to accomplish," Fudge added.

It is worth noting that Marcia Fudge is not just stepping down as HUD Secretary but she was also retiring from public life altogether. According to USA Today she was heading back to her Ohio home to spend time with her relatives including her 93-year-old mother, Marian Garth Saffold. She told the outlet not to look for her ever on another ballot appointee, or anything like that.

She added:

"I really do look forward to being a private citizen."

President Joe Biden released a statement confirming Marcia Fudge's resignation and thanking her for her services.

"Under Marcia’s transformational leadership, we have worked hard to lower housing costs and increase supply. We’ve proposed the largest investment in affordable housing in U.S. history," a part of the statement read.

The statement added:

"We’ve taken steps to aggressively combat racial discrimination in housing by ensuring home appraisals are more fair and by strengthening programs to redress the negative impacts of redlining."

Marcia Fudge told USA Today that during her tenure in HUD, she was proud of closing the Louisiana 'Road Home' program after 17 years of Hurricane Katrina's devastation. She was also proud of HUD spending 20% of its procurement funds on small disadvantaged businesses and black and brown business owners for the first time.