Name: Nina Turner collects $2.2 million for congressional bid
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Nina Turner collects $2.2 million for congressional bid

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NEW!7,128sharesWASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressional candidate Nina Turner has collected $2.2 million so far in her bid to win the Cleveland- and Akron-area seat vacated by President Joe Biden’s selection of Marcia Fudge as Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Turner’s campaign announced Monday.The take gives her a likely fundraising edge among the more than half dozen candidates seeking the seat in an Aug. 3 primary and Nov. 2 general election.Turner’s campaign told reporters that a report she’ll file with the Federal Election Commission will show she raised $1.55 million during the quarter that ended March 31. Her campaign finished with more than $1 million in the bank. They said she’s collected money from over 77,000 donors in all 50 states, who gave an average contribution of $28.California residents gave her campaign the most money, followed by those from Ohio. Her campaign reported donations from every zip code in the congressional district she wants to represent and around 400 repeat donors from Ohio.Deputy Campaign Manager Kara Turrentine told reporters that “working people” such as teachers, retail workers and health care workers were the biggest donors to Turner, who has pledged not to accept money from corporate political action committees. Turner also says she won’t accept more than $200 from oil, gas, or coal executives or lobbyists.The campaign has spent its money on “building out an aggressive campaign that can touch every part of the district,” said Turrentine, adding that the campaign will eventually air television commercials but isn’t yet ready to do so.Turner is the first of the seven Democratic candidates seeking the strongly Democratic seat to release first quarter fundraising numbers. The district is heavily gerrymandered to favor Democrats, and whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to win the general election. Other candidates who have announced they’re running include Shontel Brown, a Cuyahoga County councilwoman and chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, former Cleveland Councilman and state Sen. Jeff Johnson, former state Sen. Shirley Smith, former state Reps. John Barnes Jr. and Bryan Flannery and activist and Navy veteran Tariq Shabazz.If elected, Turner told reporters her priorities will include pushing for a $15 per hour minimum wage and other policies that will “change the material conditions of people in the 11th Congressional District, our state and this nation.” She said she also plans to focus on issues like jobs, health care and helping small businesses sustain themselves, if voters pick her to replace Fudge. She said it’s time to change the current system where corporations and people with the most money have access to decision makers, and people who live in communities like Collinwood or Hough or Lee-Harvard have very little access.Endorsements Turner recently garnered from and Cleveland City Councilman show her campaign “really is about forging bridges and the complexities about the needs in this community,” and demonstrate her broad grassroots support, said Turner, a former state senator who unsuccessfully ran for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014.She said she’d have no trouble working with the Biden administration, despite harshly criticizing Biden in her capacity as co-chair of rival candidate Bernie Sanders’ Democratic presidential campaign. Last year, Turner the choice between voting for Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump was like having a “bowl of s--- in front of you, and all you’ve got to do is eat half of it instead of the whole thing.”When asked if she’s changed her assessment of Biden, she said she was being more critical of the “system of neofascism and neoliberalism” that doesn’t address problems like people lacking clean water and a roof over their heads.“That’s what I was speaking of, more than an individual, and certainly I have a record of working with people, no matter how they identify on the political spectrum, whether they’re conservative or moderate or progressive,” said Turner, citing her after the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. “I can work with anybody who’s on the side of justice, and I’m looking forward to working with the Biden administration. I’m sure there are many things that we are going to agree on.”She calls passage of the Biden-backed “American Rescue Plan” a good start, but says she would have liked to see the minimum wage increase included. The minimum wage hasn’t increased in 12 years, and Turner said the wealthy are “making money had over first” while people on Main Street “are still having to piece together three and four jobs” to make ends meet. She said the minimum wage would be closer to $25 per hour if it kept up with inflation.“I see this as a second phase of the gilded age,” said Turner, who says she’s pushing to change living conditions for her constituents and others. She said she supports providing people with a $2,000 monthly basic income while the coronavirus pandemic persists, and said more grants and loans need to be issued to ensure “small businesses can continue to serve their communities and hire local people.”Turner said she believes the unveiled last week in Pittsburgh should be closer to $10 trillion over 10 years.“The Democratic Party has an awesome opportunity to go big,” said Turner. “The American people gave us the power. They gave us the White House and they gave us the Senate, by way of Georgia, and they helped us keep the House of Representatives. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a mandate by the American people to go big and to change their material conditions.”Read more:Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!7,128sharesWASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressional candidate Nina Turner has collected $2.2 million so far in her bid to win the Cleveland- and Akron-area seat vacated by President Joe Biden’s selection of Marcia Fudge as Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Turner’s campaign announced Monday.The take gives her a likely fundraising edge among the more than half dozen candidates seeking the seat in an Aug. 3 primary and Nov. 2 general election.Turner’s campaign told reporters that a report she’ll file with the Federal Election Commission will show she raised $1.55 million during the quarter...

Nina Turner collects $2.2 million for congressional bid

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