Nina Turner Breaks Fundraising Record After Hillary Clinton Endorses Opponent

Nina Turner announced a six-figure, record-breaking fundraiser less than 24 hours after Hillary Clinton announced that she was endorsing Turner’s opponent. Turner is running in Ohio’s 11th congressional district special election. The primary is on August 3 and the general election will take place on November 2.

Hillary Clinton Endorsed Turner’s Opponent, Shontel Brown, After Bernie Sanders Endorsed Turner

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders found themselves on opposing sides again when Clinton endorsed Shontel Brown for Ohio’s 11th congressional district special election, Politico reported.

Clinton explained her decision on a June 16 tweet, writing: “Shontel made history as the first Black woman to chair her county Dem party, and she’ll work to help her state and our country recover from COVID.”

Brown released an official statement thanking Clinton for the endorsement, writing: “Secretary Hillary Clinton has been an inspiration to me for decades. She is a champion for working families. I’m thrilled and honored that she endorsed our campaign for Congress.”

On June 8, Sanders announced that he was endorsing Nina Turner’s run. He wrote on Facebook: “It’s hard to imagine a better advocate in Congress for the people of Ohio and American working families than Nina Turner will be. And with your help, I believe she’ll get there.Can you make a contribution between Nina Turner’s campaign for Congress and our work to help elect progressives like Nina all across the country?”

Turner endorsed Sanders for president in 2016. In July 2020, she used an expletive when describing choosing between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, WKYC Studios reported.

She said: “It’s like saying to somebody, ‘You have a bowl of s**t in front of you, and all you’ve got to do is eat half of it instead of the whole thing.’ It’s still s**t.”

Additional candidates in the congressional race include John E. Barnes, Jr., Jeff Johnson, Shirley Smith, James Jerome Bell, Will Knight, Pamela Pinkney, Isaac Powell, and Tariq Shabazz.

Turner Had a Record-Breaking Fundraiser Shortly After Clinton’s Announcement

Shortly after Clinton’s announcement, Turner announced that she was launching a $27 donation challenge.

Less than 24 hours after Clinton’s endorsement, Turner announced a record-breaking fundraiser. Marisa Nahem, press secretary for Turner’s campaign, announced on Twitter on June 17 that the campaign raised six figures in less than 24 hours.

Nahem wrote in a series of tweets: “This marks the campaign’s largest fundraising day since launching at the end of last year… Our movement is powered by
@ninaturner’s only special interest: the people. On this huge day, nearly 4,000 supporters contributed an avg of $22 to the campaign!”

According to the campaign, this was the largest fundraiser since Turner launched her congressional bid.

The campaign also noted that it had raised more than $3 million before the second quarter deadline.

Turner Is Leading Polls of Democratic Voters

A recent poll showed Turner ahead of the other candidates in the congressional race, Cleveland Scene reported. The poll of Democratic voters from May 20-26 showed that 50% supported Turner, with Brown placing second at 15%. However, 21% of respondents said they were undecided about who they would support.

Turner’s campaign paid for the poll, which was conducted by the polling agency Tulchin Research, News 5 Cleveland reported.

Tom Sutton, a professor of Political Science at Baldwin Wallace University, told News 5 Cleveland about the poll: “Tulchin Associates is a firm that does a lot of polling for progressive candidates, causes, non-profit organizations, but that doesn’t take away from the validity of the poll, per se. In fact, it needs to be valid in order for the campaign to have good information to then work with in terms of what their strategy is going to be.”

The special election is taking place on August 3 after Marcia Fudge left her seat after President Joe Biden nominated her to lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fudge was confirmed on March 10, 2021.

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