Ohio’s Democratic primaries become a test for progressives

Cleveland (AP)-Last week, in the relentless sun and increasing humidity, Nina Turner led a small group of voters to a polling station on the east side of Cleveland and guided the group along a long block Go to the crosswalk, even though it would have been easier to cross the road.

“We don’t want you to break the law,” an assistant warned. “Let’s go down to the light.”

Turner has established a national reputation as the main spokesperson for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. In the crowded auditorium, people loudly called for universal health care and bold action against climate change. But when she faces her own election next month, Turner focuses on the more mundane aspects of the campaign, such as avoiding chaos, because she encourages supporters to vote and ensures that her political brand still has a place in the Democratic Party.

Turner said in an interview: “I can add that whether mainstream Democrats understand this or not, I can speak the language of people from all walks of life.” “This is very important for the expansion of the Democratic Party.”

Turner is the most famous of more than a dozen Democrats vying to replace the former House of Representatives. Marcia Fudge, He left Congress to become President Joe Biden’s head of housing. The primary election on August 3 is becoming one of the final tests for progressives this year. They have already Setbacks in other races, Including the Democratic primaries for the governor of Virginia and the mayor of New York.

With only six seats in the House of Representatives, some Democrats are taking active measures to weaken Turner and support more centrist alternatives.

The House of Representatives majority party whip Jim Clayburn is the highest-ranking black member of Congress. His stand by He helped Biden win the Democratic nomination last year and supported County Assemblyman Shortel Brown instead of Turner. Hillary Clinton, the political force of the Congressional Black Caucus, several major unions and more than 100 local leaders are doing the same thing.

The story goes on

Federal rules prohibit Fudge from endorsing during the game, but her mother appears in Brown’s ad.

Although this campaign is becoming the future representative of the Democratic Party, local leaders said that voters are more worried about issues such as creating jobs, solving crime problems and improving health care, despite the high concentration of chain hospitals in Cleveland.

“People are trying to make it gentle rather than progressive. I don’t think so,” said Cleveland City Councilman Brian Griffin, who supports Turner but is friends with everyone who runs. He added that no one, regardless of ideology, “likes poverty, speeding on the streets, bad roads or bridges”.

The area is shaped like an oversized axe, winding from Cleveland to Akron, nearly 40 miles south. The population is 53% of African Americans, and nearly a quarter of residents live in poverty. The winner of the pure blue region primary election may win the November general election.

Turner is a 53-year-old community college professor who served on the Cleveland City Council. He was a state senator. He failed to run for Ohio Secretary of State, and then crisscrossed with Sanders during the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

Her signature phrase, “Hello, someone!” became a fixture in the campaign, prompting crowds across the country to yell with joy. But those who worked with Turner in Cleveland many years ago remember her another slogan: “Do you feel me?” She first used it to speak to the audience of unresponsive young people.

In conversations with voters, Turner explained her support for universal health insurance under “Medicare for All” and pointed out her mother’s experience, she was uninsured and died when she was 42 years old. Turner also said that she wanted to eliminate student debt. She knew its sting: She and her son owed her nearly $100,000 in loans, and she was still paying off.

But the fierce presidential primaries between Biden and Sanders left some lingering resentment. The advocacy organization of the Israeli democratic majority has produced advertisements, catching that Turner once compared supporting Biden to being forced to eat shit.

Brown once pointed out such a moment, thinking that she will be able to complete more and faster work in Washington.

“I don’t have to start with a long letter of apology,” Brown said in her former pet shop’s campaign office. “I can walk into the door with a good relationship and start working on behalf of the voters.”

Pastor Aaron Phillips, executive director of the Cleveland League of Clergy, accused Sanders and Turner of splitting the Democratic Party so much, which he said helped Republican Donald Trump win the presidency in 2016.

At the same time, Brown “has been a loyal Democrat all his life,” Phillips said. “She has never changed.”

Turner said she is still a proud progressive. Although some like-minded candidates have not won the competition recently, she said they still “push the country’s narrative.” The van used for her mobile campaign office was printed with the slang phrase “Corporate Democrats want a puppet.”

After walking to the polling station, Turner wandered briefly in the shade of the van. Sam Cooke’s “Everyone Likes Cha Cha Cha” sounded through the speakers, and she began to dance.

“I can do this. But I can’t sing,” she said with a smile. “People with this kind of talent. I’m not one of them.”

Pastor Regis of the Fifth Christian Church in Cleveland said that Turner has established personal connections with voters and insisted that most people will not be scared away by big goals of progress. He said “not as far away as many people think.”

“We need something broader than the freedom paradigm we have been living in,” said the 34-year-old Bunche, who said he supported Sanders in the primary election and only voted for Biden “by force” last fall.

Despite this, Turner denied that she would be a congressional provocateur, arguing that she worked well with both parties in the state legislature. She also aired a TV commercial to promote her past work as the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Brown countered that she could actually achieve the kind of bipartisanship Turner said.

“I think the’all or nothing’ approach will ultimately lead to nothing. So we must be able to find a compromise,” she said. “Being a partner does not mean being a puppet.”