All Eyes On OH-11

Finally, this godforsaken primary will end.

[Nina Turner (left) and Shontel Brown (right)]

Get excited, folks! Ohio has not one but two Congressional special elections today. The one you won’t hear about is Democratic State Representative Alisson Russo looking to increase her Name ID against whatever creature of darkness stumbles out of the Republican Royal Rumble in a special election to replace Congressman Ron Stivers, who finally fucked off to make millions of dollars as a well-connected lobbyist.

The other one race, which will you probably hear about it, features former State Senator Nina Turner and Cuyahoga County Democratic Chairwoman Shontel Brown and a bunch of no-chancers vying to replace former Congresswoman and current Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District, which hilariously looks like this:

[Map done by @zhizhierbuzhier]

Since the Republicans couldn’t get away with legally gerrymandering all the state’s 16 Congressional seats in their favor in 2010, they decided to live with a 12-4 split.

So a Congressional seat in Ohio that a Republican can’t win doesn’t come open every day. Once you’re in power, it takes minimal effort to retain the seat. Whoever wins the OH-11 race will still only be one member of a 435-member body. But they both could easily serve for decades in Congress.

Cleveland.com mentioned this weekend the common theme of the election has been people from outside OH-11 telling people what’s best for them. Unfortunately that’s exactly how races like this work ever since Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dumped Nancy Pelosi’s heir into the Hudson River.

That means we get things like Trump donors and Patriots owner Robert Kraft drop ping max donations in Shontel Brown’s campaign coffers while, as far as I can tell, Brown’s No platform is Not Being Nina Turner and pledging fealty to Joe Biden’s tepid agenda. She doesn’t even have the decency to lie to us that she believes in universal healthcare.

Meanwhile, Nina Turner has out-campaigned her every step of the way. This type of stuff should matter to the party that claims to stand with workers:

camilo🌹 @MyFriendCamilo

In a place like Cuyahoga, standing up for justice means standing up to people who say they are progressive, like a library. When library janitors asked @ninaturner to support them, there was no hesitation. We don't need to ask who will fight for workers: we know who already does.

SEIU Local 1 @SEIULocal1

VICTORY🎉Local 1 janitors at the @CuyahogaLib in Cleveland fought & won job protection! The janitors, who clean the library & help keep the community safe, came together to protect their voice on the job. Soon, they will be using that voice at the bargaining table! https://t.co/TSAKoVIajl

That kind of stuff should matter than the endorsements of the fly-by endorsements rich, famous and politically-connected.

I’m not in the prediction business anymore when it comes to politics. Democratic voters have proven to enjoy the gruel fed to them by their preferred party just as much as the Republicans since The Status Quo is working for a lot of them, too.

One way or another, however, the latest attempt by terminally online nerds (myself included) to relitigate the 2020 Democratic presidential primary will be over.

We are all a winner in that way.

THOSE WMDs. I live in a 72-square-foot NYC apartment for $1,350 and here’s how I save space… The secrets hidden in restaurant menus… The perfect air fryer steak… The dam is breaking on vaccine mandates… The insides of pro bowling balls will make your head spin.