The results from the Tuesday’s special congressional primary elections in Ohio produced a number of significant results. In Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, Republican Mike Carey—endorsed by former President Trump--is now scheduled to face Democrat Allison Russo in November for the seat which was held by Republican Congressman Steve Stivers. He had resigned this spring to head the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. The primary demonstrated that former President Trump, despite having seen his preferred choice lose the Republican nomination in the recent Texas special election, has not disappeared from being an active political player.
In the special election in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District, the Democratic voters selected Shontel Brown over Nina Turner to be the nominee in November to replace former Representative Marcia Fudge. She had been chosen by President Biden to serve as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Although Brown had appeared to trail in some of the polling, she defeated Turner by more than six percentage points. It was the source of the competition between these two African Americans candidates which made the race noteworthy.
Brown was the candidate of the Democratic establishment and Turner was the candidate of the progressive wing of the party. Brown’s victory followed a series of earlier victories for the more traditional wing of the party in the Virginia gubernatorial primary, in the Louisiana special election contest to replace Rep. Cedric Richmond, and in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. Those victories had been a clear indication of victories for President Biden and his traditional style of politics. In Ohio it had appeared to be more challenging and more telling.
This primary brought into the Cleveland/Akron area former Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, the House Democratic Whip, Representative James Clyburn, as well as the leaders of the Black Caucus. Turner had expressed her dislike of Biden, Clinton, and the establishment leadership. Traditional Democrats recognized how valuable Clyburn had been in bringing out the Black vote to secure Biden’s victory in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. The Ohio contest was also a victory for the Congressional Black Caucus which supported Brown over Turner in this contest between two African American who were the major aspirants.
This race, however, portends several serious issues for the Democratic Party. First, there is the matter of the direction of the party and need for party unity. Pushing the party, for example, to extend the moratorium on home evictions as the progressives had demanded pursued was a constructive move. Opposing “establishment” Democrats and even considering challenging them in primaries next year is foolhardy and self-defeating.
The Democrats have a major battle on their hands to maintain control of Congress in the 2022 congressional elections. If they succeed in winning a couple of progressive races but lose control of Congress, it will be a pyrrhic victory. This is what could well occur if Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, and Representative Cori Bush, among others, persist in attacking individual Democrats.
The Democratic primary in Ohio also exposed a very raw nerve within the Jewish community which traditional Democrats recognized but which the progressives appeared to tolerate if not encourage. Brown had a long record of working successfully with the Jewish community in Cleveland and had been supportive of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. Brown had been supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself during the confrontation with Hamas in Gaza in May, while Turner had called for conditioning aid to Israel, Turner also had retweeted a social media posting accusing Israel of conducting apartheid.
As result the Jewish community throughout Cuyahoga County appears to have been overwhelmingly supportive of Brown’s candidacy. The national Democratic Majority for Israel Super PAC reportedly helped Brown’s campaign with over $2 million, one million of which came in a television barrage during the final weekend of the campaign. In her victory speech, Brown specifically expressed her appreciation for the support and turnout she received from all segments of the local Jewish community.
Perhaps the most serious red flag raised by Turner came when, after conceding her loss to Brown, she invoked one of the classical anti-Semitic canards used against Jews “dirty money.” She said: “We didn’t lose this race, evil money manipulated and maligned this election.” (It should be noted that pending the final Federal Election Commission filings, Turner had significantly outraised Brown.)
If the Democrats fail to acknowledge the red flags being waved against Jews, support for Democratic candidates could wane from Jewish voters in key races for Democrats. If the progressive wing of the Black community ops to follow the “squad” and the pro-Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (BDS) followers in the progressive movement, it will resolve in splitting Jewish support as well for Black Lives Matter. It could have significant consequences for numerous sectors of the Democratic Party.
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