Nina Turner, previously best know as the national co-chair of Bernie Sanders's 202o presidential campaign, recently lost the Democratic primary for the special congressional election in Ohio's 11th district. She did not lose gracefully, using her concession speech to attack the supporters of winning candidate Shontel Brown:
I am going to work hard to ensure that something like this never happens to a progressive candidate again. We didn't lose this race—the evil money manipulated and maligned this election.
The "something" that Turner apparently wants to prevent must have been losing by almost seven points in a race where she had once been ahead by significant double digits. You would think from the quote that Turner had been seriously outspent, but in fact, her funding far outstripped her opponent's. She raised $5.6 million to Brown's $2.4 million.
So what made Brown's money evil and manipulative? Could it possibly be that Brown was supported by the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC? Or that she got a majority of votes from Jewish and suburban voters in Cuyahoga County? I don't recall any previous candidate ever complaining about an opponent who spent less than half as much money, but Turner evidently thinks that funding can be tainted if it comes from the wrong sources. Maybe it's "all about the Benjamins" after all.
Then again, Turner's loss could have something to do with the fact that she was opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus, including James Clyburn. When rapper Killer Mike, sharing a stage with Turner. called Clyburn "incredibly stupid" for not getting more concessions from Biden, the Majority Whip replied, “I was going to stay right here in South Carolina minding my business until I got called stupid.” He later added, “I just kind of decided if I’m going to be stupid, might as well be stupid."
Turner had the endorsement of every member of The Squad, with AOC tweeting "Please send me Nina." That wasn't enough to overcome Turner's 2020 statement that voting for Joe Biden was like eating half a "bowl of shit" (Trump was the full bowl). As of this writing, I haven't seen Sanders, AOC, or other Squad members repudiate any of Turner's statements about "evil money," "stupid" Clyburn, or bowls of shit.
It turned out that voters in the Ohio district like Joe Biden, and maybe Israel, a lot more than they like "progressive" Democrats.
Ahh…. This seems to be getting closer to fair criticism of all persons affecting our public discourse, not just republicans. Thank you, Steve. I don't agree with the concluding paragraph, but it bears mentioning that this is a move toward a much needed balance here in the FL.
Couple of points. The "spending advantage" that Turner had covers only money raised by the candidates. Money spent by third parties like Democratic Majority for Israel and more mainstream Democratic groups like Third Way went overwhelmingly for Brown. They both had roughly the same amount of money spent on their behalf so Turner supporters have no grounds to claim they lost because they were outspent.
This is an African American majority district so I doubt it was Israel that the majority of Brown voters were motivated by. It was endorsements by Clyburn, Marcia Fudge (whose mother did radio commercials on behalf of Turner to get around the Hatch Act) and ads that emphasized Turner's criticism of Biden that turned the tide. Israel did make a difference in the votes cast by virtue of this being the most heavily Jewish district in the state with East Side suburbs like Shaker Heights included. That probably accounted for perhaps 5 or 6% of the total vote.
Voters who are animated on the issue of Israel have the right, like all of us, to contribute to candidates that reflect their views on matters important to them.
Interesting chain of inferences, insinuations, and attribution of motives, and compelling conclusion.