Joyce Beatty just staged a high profile media arrest for herself. She's been all over TV. No one mentions she and her husband are career-long crooked hustlers, selling out their community to the highest bidders, especially pay day lenders. She's reinvented herself as a martyr to voting rights. I suppose she needed to do something to get a name for herself outside of K Street in case she needs a national platform if the Ohio legislature decides to dice up Columbus and leave her without a cozy D+19 district.
Very predictably, while credible Congressional Black Caucus members Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Mondaire Jones were endorsing and campaigning for Nina Turner, Beatty was the first member of Congress to come out against her. Some of the worst and most corrupt Democrats in DC have joined Beatty-- Blue Dog slime bag Josh Gottheimer, New Dem coke freak Pete Aguillar, Likud ambassador to Congress Ted Deutch, multimillionaire purveyor of alcoholic beverages David Trone, Blue Dog Likudnik Brad Schneider and, most notoriously, Jim Clyburn. These are people who abhor reformers, progressive politics and grassroots activists.
I asked Shervin Aazami to share his thoughts about Nina with us this morning. He couldn't-- because he's doing a Medicare-for-All event with her today. But I doubt he'd disagree with what Virginia progressive Ally Dalsimer had to say about her:
What we’ve seen in the Ohio 11th Special Election is nothing short of a political proxy war. Nina Turner is one of the most prominent and effective leaders in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and those within the party who oppose the rights of working people and making this nation a better place are doing all that they can to block her victory. This is not about Shontel Brown, but simply about the establishment latching onto whichever corporate candidate is the most viable vehicle to blocking Senator Turner. From fundraisers with Fox News and Fossil Fuel Executives, to smear pieces that actively spread lies about Senator Turner, it is clear who Shontel Brown serves and where her values lie. While the right-wing Democrats and groups backing Brown are afraid of Senator Turner getting to Congress, I believe they’re even more concerned about the precedent a victory from Senator Turner sets. If the progressive movement can elect one of the most outspoken and bold figures in their wing of the party, how many more right-wing incumbents are at risk? Could progressives use the momentum of a Turner win to steamroll incumbents in the 2022 midterms? That’s what they fear, and if we can make sure Senator Turner wins, I for one intend to make those fears a reality.
This congressional ActBlue thermometer on the left is a way you can contribute to Nina's campaign-- for her to beat back the slimy Likud-financed attack ads from Brown's allies and for her get out the vote efforts in a campaign that ends in two and a half weeks. The progressive Democrat taking on Kevin McCarthy this cycle, Bruno Amato, took a few moments out of his own campaign to explain the importance of Nina's campaign today: "Nina Turner is a gutsy progressive who isn't afraid to stand up to power and says what she thinks! In this special election in Ohio's 11th Congressional District, the Democratic Party establishment is definitely lined up against her. Nina's main issues of economic justice, environmental justice, Medicare for All and her long standing in that community should hopefully advance her to victory. We need more progressive candidates like Nina Turner in Congress! Making sure we get progressives elected all over the country must be a priority. We need Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, cancellation of student debt and we need to make sure public colleges, universities and trade schools are available to anyone who wants an education or workforce training. Nina Turner, is the right choice for OH-11 because she has been and will continue to fight for those policies and the values behind them. I hope to join her and other progressives in the House so we can make these changes that our country desperately needs."
There have been 4 public polls, 3 by Democratic polling firms and one by TargetPoint, a Republican Party disinformation operation that brags on its website for having worked for George W. Bush, Mitt Romney and Mitch McConnell. The 3 Democratic pollsters found Nina leading substantially. TargetPoint was hired to give the anti-Nina forces a talking point and they delivered what they were paid to deliver, a highly suspect tied poll (with a 5.7% margin of error).
Like Shervin, Washington state progressive challenger Jason Call is also working with Nina. "There is no more important election in the post-2020 election cycle," he told me last night, "than Nina Turner’s race for Ohio’s 11th district seat. Cleveland is the hometown of one of my personal heroes, Dennis Kucinich, whose signed pocket Constitution I keep on my desk. If Dennis is any marker of local politics, this seat should easily be won by Senator Turner. But of course, we see the establishment doing what it does-- throwing dark money and shamelessly seeding lies to thwart the progressive movement, which Nina is-- in the post-Bernie age-- heir apparent to. Without mincing words: we must win this seat. That’s why (like I did for Jess Scarane and Paula Jean Swearengin in 2020) I’m planning a boots on the ground trip to Cleveland to canvass for our hero. I’ve met Nina a couple of times locally, and there is nobody more inspiring and more honest about the need for systemic change in America. As always, our success will depend on our input and our activism. The establishment is making this a harder fight than it should be, but as usual they expose themselves, their tactics and their motives. We can and we will overcome this. Please do whatever you can for Nina, and if you’d like to split a donation between the two of us, please use the thermometer above."
