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House primary in Ohio takes nasty turn as national Democrats descend
NBC NewsCLEVELAND — The two leading Democratic candidates in Ohio's 11th Congressional District have turned the final days of a special election primary that has captured the national spotlight into a slugfest.
Nina Turner, a former state senator, is running on a push for universal health care and a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Cuyahoga County Council member Shontel Brown, who also chairs the county's Democratic Party, is pitching herself as a staunch loyalist of President Joe Biden who wouldn't try to force the White House agenda too far to the left.
The nasty tone that has been present for months escalated Thursday as high-profile surrogates for both candidates were set to arrive here. Turner, 53, unleashed a commercial that questions Brown's ethics and ends with the image of a jail door slamming. (Brown's campaign manager said the ad was "verifiably false."
Brown, 46, has sought to paint Turner, known nationally for her work on Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns, as too much of an outsider and too critical of Biden to accomplish anything in Congress.
The national endorsers, while welcomed by the candidates, have superimposed past Democratic battles onto the district, frustrating those who say eagerness for a proxy war is overshadowing local nuances and issues. Brown and Turner are successful Black politicians in a majority Black district, familiar on their own merits to voters. Both have made local issues like poverty and gun violence central to their campaigns.
Nina Turner, a former state senator, is running on a push for universal health care and a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Cuyahoga County Council member Shontel Brown, who also chairs the county's Democratic Party, is pitching herself as a staunch loyalist of President Joe Biden who wouldn't try to force the White House agenda too far to the left.
The nasty tone that has been present for months escalated Thursday as high-profile surrogates for both candidates were set to arrive here. Turner, 53, unleashed a commercial that questions Brown's ethics and ends with the image of a jail door slamming. (Brown's campaign manager said the ad was "verifiably false."
Brown, 46, has sought to paint Turner, known nationally for her work on Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns, as too much of an outsider and too critical of Biden to accomplish anything in Congress.
The national endorsers, while welcomed by the candidates, have superimposed past Democratic battles onto the district, frustrating those who say eagerness for a proxy war is overshadowing local nuances and issues. Brown and Turner are successful Black politicians in a majority Black district, familiar on their own merits to voters. Both have made local issues like poverty and gun violence central to their campaigns.