Getty Nina Turner is married to Jeff Turner, Sr.
Nina Turner is married to Jeff Turner, Sr. She’s running in a heated Democratic primary on August 3 for Ohio’s 11th congressional district special election. Her husband has worked closely with her on her political endeavors, supporting all of her campaigns. He’s a former police officer who now owns a business in Ohio. He and Nina Turner have an adult son together.
Here’s what you need to know about her husband, Jeff Turner.
1. Jeff Turner Is the President & CEO of Turner Strategic Advisory Group
OH next Secretary of State, @ninaturner with her husband and son. Good looking family! http://t.co/Pws53sBLdb
According to the bio on his business’s website, Jeff Turner, Sr., is the president, owner, and CEO of Turner Strategic Advisory Group, which is based in Ohio.
His bio also notes that he owned Turner Rental Properties and Turner Online Sales, which specialized in the sales of windows and doors. He also worked for 11 years for Pella Windows and Doors.
He wrote in his bio: “My mission is to help bring these groups together to change public policy and close the various gaps separating them to reduce the severe negative impact of economic and income inequality.”
While Jeff Turner’s business is based in Ohio, Nina Turner revealed in 2019 that even when working in Washington, D.C., she still traveled back to Ohio frequently to see her husband and her son, Cleveland.com reported.
2. He Recognized Bernie Sanders as Being Nina Turner’s Ideal Candidate
Facebook/Winnie PorterNina Turner and her husband Jeffrey.
Nina Turner told Cleveland.com that when Bernie Sanders first announced that he was running for President in 2016, her husband was the one who first recognized Sanders as the type of candidate she would support.
She said that Jeff said to her: “Baby, this is your candidate” after recognizing his stances on voters’ rights and wages.
She met Sanders when they were speakers for the 2015 Democratic National Committee’s women’s forum. She endorsed his campaign and went on to later become the president of Our Revolution, a nonprofit focused on Sanders’ platform. Sanders has since endorsed Turner’s current campaign.
Winnie Porter shared the above photo on Facebook in 2018 when she met Nina Turner’s husband, Jeff, at an event.
3. He Was a Police Officer with More than 20 Years in Law Enforcement
With my husband Jeff & son Jeff Jr carrying on the Turner family tradition of voting together! #ElectionDay http://t.co/UjGtrqBuHn
Turner’s bio noted that he is a former police officer and special police officer for Highland Hills and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. In total, he has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement.
In an interview with Democracy Now, Nina Turner shared how her heart ached in 2016 after the Baton Rouge attack where three police officers were killed. The shootings happened after a week of protests following the police shooting Alton Sterling.
She said, in part: “I had just gotten off the set with Joy Reid this morning, and I had to keep myself from crying, because I thought about those families, but I thought about my son. And my husband was a former police officer, so I get this on both sides. I get it from the pain, you know, the things my son has to endure out of uniform and now the things that he has to endure in uniform. And so, my heart goes out to all the law enforcement folks all over this country.”
She said the targeting of police officers is wrong, but shooting deaths — such as the death of Tamir Rice — also have to be addressed. This, she said, included transparency and having good police officers call out the people who are doing wrong.
She said:
One of the recommendations from the task force that came from the people was accountability and transparency. Folks are not asking for more than what they deserve. They do deserve that. And one of the things, Amy, I will never forget that a young millennial said to us as we were traveling the state, he said, ‘There is a no-snitch culture among the criminal element, and law enforcement always want us to kind of penetrate that: Tell. If you see something, say something. If somebody’s breaking the law, say something.’ He said, ‘But what about the no-snitch culture in the police?’
That, in other words, good police officers prop up bad police officers, and they won’t tell. They won’t talk about what is wrong within this system. I believe another thing that we have to do is—to repair that divide is to have good police officers call out their sisters and brothers who may doing things wrong.
Turner’s 2021 campaign website has a section on reimagining public safety, which includes fixing parts of the criminal justice system that are “inherently unjust to Black and Brown people.” Her website notes: “We need to completely reimagine how we do policing in this country and while we are at it, let’s fix the entire system from the judiciary to the streets.”
Her website suggests creating national policing and use-of-force standards, ending mandatory minimum sentencing, and legalizing marijuana, among other recommendations.
4. They Have a Son Who Has Also Served in Law Enforcement
My husband and I are very proud of our son! He graduated from CSU today! http://t.co/9HEapbDu
Toledo Blade reported in 2013 that the Turner’s son, Jeffrey Turner, Jr., is a lieutenant in the Ohio National Guard military police. In 2012, he graduated from CSU, according to a tweet that Nina Turner shared.
5. Jeff Turner Managed Logistics & Security for Nina Turner’s Campaigns
OMG, I am really crushed right now! Big Eddie was the truth. Words cannot express the love and respect my husband and I have for him and Wendy. Rest in absolute power🙏🏾🔥#edschultz
According to Turner’s bio, he managed security and transportation logistics for his wife’s 2014 campaign for Ohio Secretary of State, her 2010 campaign for Ohio Senate, and her 2001 and 2004 campaigns for Cleveland City Council.
Jeff and Nina Turner have worked closely together throughout their marriage. His bio noted:
Together we have established a network of business and political relationships throughout Ohio. During our travels in the 2014 campaign for Ohio Secretary of State we saw the tremendous need for new and improved public policy that will bring educators, industry and labor leaders, elected officials, and others together to build interdependent local, regional, and national infrastructures and a pipeline to improve the quality and capacity of our nation’s skilled workforce.
His bio also noted that he has advised and consulted for other elected and public officials, including service as the project manager for Mayor Michael R. White’s and Mayor Jane Campbell’s City of Cleveland Police and Community Relations Board.
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