left: Pictured are U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-V T) (wearing eyeglasses), U.S. Congressional Candidate Tina Turner (wearing eyeglasses), Civil Rights Leader Ben Jealous, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
CLEVELAND, OHIO – U.S. Congressional Candidate Nina Turner announced on Wednesday that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will travel to Ohio's 11th Congressional District during the final week of the campaign to headline a get-out-the-vote rally for Turner, an event that will take place on Sat., July 31 at the Agora Theater on Euclid Avenue on Cleveland's largely Black east side.
The rally, which will feature local leaders and musical artists, will begin at with an 11:30 am rally and will be followed by a 2 pm march, the Turner campaign said in a press release on Wednesday. Doors open at 10:30 am.
A Black Democrat and former Ohio senator who was Sanders' campaign surrogate and who co-chaired his presidential campaign for president last year, Turner 53, is the front runner among 13 candidates competing in an Aug 3 special Democratic congressional primary election for the congressional seat vacated in early March by former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, who is now the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and a member of President Joe Biden's cabinet.
A Democrat out of Vermont who, like Turner, supports progressive agendas, Sanders endorsed Nina Turner early in the race, citing her tireless advocacy for bold policies like Medicare for All, cancelling student debt, free public college, raising the minimum wage and holding big corporations accountable.
In his endorsement of Turner on Dec. 15, Sanders said she is best qualified to lead Ohio's 11th congressional district, which includes most of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, and a majority black pocket of Akron and staggering sections of Akron's Summit County suburbs.
"I've gotten to know Nina Turner over the last five years," said Sanders. "She deeply cares for working families and she has the heart to be an effective, unwavering fighter for them in Congress."
Turner shared her gratitude for Sanders' support.
"Senator Sanders sparked a movement that shifted what is possible in American politics. I am proud to be joined by Senator Sanders in my hometown of Cleveland," Turner said.
She added that Sanders "has shown that one can be a principled partner to the president in moving forward an agenda that centers on the poor, the working poor, and the barely middle class."
Turner and her campaign team are working to keep her closest opponent, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman and County Democratic Chair Shontel Brown, from gaining ground in the multi million dollar congressional race.
U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a congresswoman representing New York's 14th congressional district and the youngest woman to ever be elected to Congress, and Civil Rights leader Ben Jealous will visit Cleveland this week to stomp for Turner. Jealous is a former Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland, former national president & CEO of the NAACP, and former executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
In addition to Sanders, Ocasio- Cortez and Jealous, Turner has an array endorsements from prominent local and national politicians, among others, and so does Brown, whose endorsements include former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who, like Sanders, has twice run for president, Democratic U.S. Rep Joyce Beatty of Columbus, and House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat.
Turner has raised some $4.6 million, more money than any of her opponents.
The winner of the Democratic primary in Ohio's 11th congressional district will face the Republican primary winner for a Nov. 2 general election.
Both Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are Democratic strongholds run primarily by Democrats.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
By Kathy Wray Coleman. Coleman is a former public school biology teacher and a Black political and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio