Special Election megathread (4/30: NY-26)

[free my dawg]

Yes, it's totally not like Turner in particular had said and done things to hurt the party electorally in general elections in the past and needlessly burned bridges with the establishment in ways other progressive candidates haven't or anything...

Turner brought this on herself. If she hadn't made the sh** sandwich comment last year this race would have been called for her five minutes after polls closed.

I actually disagree with this take and think it'd be competitive regardless of Turner sniping at Biden. I think Brown was stronger than the polls estimated and that the CBC would have intervened regardless to push their protege over the top. DMFI still intervenes over her Palestine views too.

[Oryxslayer]

Looks like 100% is in:

Shontel Brown: 37,666   50.2%

Nina Turner: 33,420   44.5%

[Suburbia]

Poor Nina Turner.

I like her. She should run for this seat again or for Governor......

She is feisty....

[Calthrina950]

Glad Turner lost. She is an absolute clown. That “concession” speech is pathetic.

I don't know what she was talking about when she mentioned "evil money".

[Vosem]

Glad Turner lost. She is an absolute clown. That “concession” speech is pathetic.

I don't know what she was talking about when she mentioned "evil money".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbh5Kvet04

[free my dawg]

Glad Turner lost. She is an absolute clown. That “concession” speech is pathetic.

I don't know what she was talking about when she mentioned "evil money".

That's a ing yikes.

[HAnnA MArin County]

It doesn't matter with Keith Ellison, Bernie Sanders, and Nina Turner are frontrunners. Establishment purity trolls find a way to stop them.

*plays the world's smallest violin*

Nina Turncoat is a deplorable, divisive demagogue who brought this upon herself. Much like jfern, still tweeting out anti-HRC garbage in 2020. "Endorsements have consequences."

[Gass3268]

Writing something up after I do some gaming. Suffice to say it's clear that certain factions of the Democratic establishment didn't get Biden/Schumer's memo and still believe we're Public Enemy #1B.

If Turner would have endorsed/voted for Hillary and Biden, like nearly every other elected Berniecrat did she would have won tonight.

[Real Texan Politics]

https://twitter.com/kirk_bado/status/1422746034296528897?s=19

"I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!"

- Nina Turner, 2021

[free my dawg]

Writing something up after I do some gaming. Suffice to say it's clear that certain factions of the Democratic establishment didn't get Biden/Schumer's memo and still believe we're Public Enemy #1B.

If Turner would have endorsed/voted for Hillary and Biden, like nearly every other elected Berniecrat did she would have won tonight.

I actually disagree with this take and think it'd be competitive regardless of Turner sniping at Biden. I think Brown was stronger than the polls estimated and that the CBC would have intervened regardless to push their protege over the top. DMFI still intervenes over her Palestine views too.

Brown had a coalition of the Jewish community (who would still overwhelmingly back Brown) and the machine (which is generally very Offline). Maybe it'd be by slimmer margins than expected but I think a race between Brown and a less hostile progressive is a toss-up.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I haven't commented on this race before nor did I give it much attention. But I don't believe that Nina Turner is someone who's very helpful to the left's own cause. The AOC's and Cori Bush's of the party - hell, the Marie Newman's of the party - are the types of people you want moving the Democratic Party left. If you want to grow your coalition, you need to give a little and be a team player. Bernie did it. AOC did it. Maybe someone from the left not named Nina Turner will defeat Brown next year. Because if a candidate who's gone that rogue can muster 44% in a primary, then a more practical-thinking progressive can win here as well.

Although I don't know much about Brown and I don't think she would vote very differently than Turner would other than maybe on Israel. And, because the grassroots "Bernie movement"/DSA movement (I prefer the former as someone who's not very fond of the DSA itself) is still very new to our politics, it has nowhere to go but up. For that reason, I remain optimistic.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Donald Trump's bad week continues.

[pppolitics]

What Nina Turner missed is that we Democrats actually like our party and we don't like it when someone sh*ts all over it.

[beesley]

People made a big deal out of Stephanie Kunze but look at her now. Disappointing result overall.

[Blair]

Disappointing to say the least. Another huge loss for the polling industry.

It's interesting to contrast this race and its result with NY-16 last year. Bowman, like Turner, upheld a progressive program, had the animosity of Clinton, Clyburn and the CBC, and was outspent by outside groups incl. DMFI donating millions to the opposing candidate. Bowman was also criticized by Engel and his surrogates for controversial statements about Israel, and rallied endorsements from Sanders and AOC. Yet Bowman crushed Engel by 15 points. Why then did Turner have such an uphill battle? Did it simply come down to perceived loyalty to Biden and the Democrats, and the DMFI/Third Way ads repeating attack ads? Or do we just need to find more out-of-touch incumbents?

Regardless, it's undoubtedly a painful L for progressives. Hopefully we see some primary wins in 2022.

Impression I got was that Engel was a lot more unpopular and it’s much easier to run as a progressive against an incumbent with a sh**t record compared to against some random state legislator.

[Blair]

The sad thing is that Turner was once a good politician; I remember seeing her on Bill Maher back in 2014 when she was running in Ohio and even then I thought how much of a breathe of fresh air that she was for the Democratic party.

However in the last five years she has put herself on a trajectory that was aiming towards being a national surrogate/figure for progressives,  whether it is flirting with a third-party run in 2016, running our revolution (into the ground) after 16 or then making comments about Biden.

These were not the actions of a politician trying to win a district which is still dominated by a large democratic machine.

[Benjamin Frank]

Final result

Total votes: 75,064
Shontel Brown   37,666 50.18%
Nina Turner       33,420 44.52%
Jeff Johnson        1,349  1.80%
John Barnes Jr.       773  1.03%
Shirley Smith         583  0.78%
Seth Corey            486   0.65%
Pamela Pinkney     178   0.24%
Will Knight            177   0.24%
Tariq Shabazz       130    0.17%
Martin Alexander    98    0.13%
James Bell             95    0.13%
Lateek Shabazz      60   0.08%
Isaac Powell           49   0.07%

Jeff Johnson supporters should look at it this way: he did better than John 'The Engineer' Turmel.

Republican
Total votes:  5,299
Laverne Gore 3,927 74.11%
Felicia Ross    1,372 25.89%

[Landslide Lyndon]

BTW, don't hold your breath waiting for Turner to endorse Brown in the general.

[Alben Barkley]

What Nina Turner missed is that we Democrats actually like our party and we don't like it when someone sh*ts all over it.

Seems like that’s what a lot of the Berniecrats don’t seem to get and never have. Maybe YOU hate the Democratic Party and are embarrassed to be associated with it, but I’m not. And neither are most people voting in a Democratic primary.

[VAR]

source

Explains a lot, I think.

[wbrocks67]

Disappointing to say the least. Another huge loss for the polling industry.

No it's not. We got no public polling and all of the internals are old as hell.

[wbrocks67]

What Nina Turner missed is that we Democrats actually like our party and we don't like it when someone sh*ts all over it.

Seems like that’s what a lot of the Berniecrats don’t seem to get and never have. Maybe YOU hate the Democratic Party and are embarrassed to be associated with it, but I’m not. And neither are most people voting in a Democratic primary.

This is what it comes down to.

Nina Turner is a loose cannon and not a team player. She introduced Jill Stein in 2016, didn't vote or Hillary Clinton, compared Biden to a bowl of sh*t, and couldn't even admit to voting for Joe in 2020.

Why in the WORLD would any Democratic voter in a Democratic primary vote for that? Nina Turner has no one to blame but HERSELF.

[wbrocks67]

Sorry for the 3rd post but this sums it up:

But in a final sign of the nasty turn of the race, Brown’s staff said Turner had not yet called to congratulate her.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/03/shontel-brown-beats-nina-turner-in-key-ohio-primary-502365

That's exactly who Nina Turner is.

[Oryxslayer]

A much more complex divide than "Blacks vs Whites." Brown locked up suburban support no matter the ethnicity, no matter if said suburbs are poor or rich and gated. Turner did better in urban areas. Urban AAs were divided between the two, with some of Brown's best urban precincts being in the most AA parts of East Cleveland. Suburban whites went hard for Brown, but Urban whites in the west city and in the (younger) downtown were Turner's base.

[Brittain33]

https://twitter.com/SusanSpice/status/1422876372658229248?s=20