Marcia Louise Fudge (born October 29, 1952) is an American attorney and retired politician who served as the 18th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2021 to 2024.

[2] She considered running for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives at the start of the 116th Congress but eventually announced she would back Nancy Pelosi.

[6] Upon taking her oath of office, she became the second African American woman to serve as secretary of housing and urban development.

[8] As a 1971 graduate of Shaker Heights High School,[9] she earned her Bachelor of Science in business from the Ohio State University in 1975.

[12] Fudge has also worked as an auditor for the county's estate tax department and has occasionally served as a visiting judge and as a chief referee for arbitration.

[16] After Stephanie Tubbs Jones's death on August 20, 2008, a committee of local Democratic leaders selected Fudge as her replacement on the November ballot.

[20] She was unopposed in a November 18 special election for the balance of Jones's fifth term, and won with fewer than nine thousand votes cast.

[24] After the 2020 United States presidential election, Fudge and allies including Representative Jim Clyburn argued that she should be appointed as Secretary of Agriculture in the Biden administration.

[6] In March 2021, during a White House press conference, Fudge made comments on the upcoming Senate election in her home state of Ohio suggesting that Democrats could win it.

[38] In one of her first acts as secretary, Fudge discussed the effects of homelessness on people of color, evictions in the United States, and creating avenues for fair housing with civil rights leaders including Marc Morial and Al Sharpton.

[49] [13] In 2015, Fudge wrote a letter asking for leniency in the sentencing of Cleveland politician Lance Mason on felony assault and domestic violence charges.