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

[Pyro]

Nina Turner in Congress would be spectacular. I've heard she is popular in her district, guess we'll see.

[Pyro]

Turner endorsed by a transphobe:

https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1339321772638867457?s=20

She also endorsed Joe Biden back in March. Didn't see any concern trolling then.

[Pyro]

Lol

anyway, Local 1199 has just under 30000 members so this is a big pickup.

https://twitter.com/seiu1199wvkyoh/status/1370050402260033536?s=20

SEIU 1199 endorsing Nina Turner is actually a major deal.

[Pyro]

Another major union endorsement for Nina Turner.

https://twitter.com/NationalNurses/status/1372646265490657284?s=19

[Pyro]

Another major union endorsement for Nina Turner.

NNU isn't a major union, lol.  It's basically an arm of the Sanders campaign.  This endorsement is about as valuable as the Kyle Kulinski endorsement.

It is literally the largest registered nurse union in the country with over 150k members.
Don't belittle a labor union just because they campaigned for a politician you don't fancy.

[Pyro]

https://twitter.com/SethARichardson/status/1376920893730004992

[Pyro]

Not mentioned yet here, but Ayanna Pressley endorsed Nina Turner yesterday. Fairly big news considering Pressley's role as a major Warren surrogate in 2019/20. I wonder if other "Warren Democrats" will be announcing their support for Turner as well.

https://twitter.com/Marisa_N19/status/1410232531220373511

Also it looks like in the wake of Clyburn's move, Turner raised over $100K in 24 hours.

[Pyro]

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.

[Pyro]

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.

Fair enough, though Engel never struck me as an unpopular incumbent until that election.

[Pyro]

(tweet)

Interactive here: https://rrhelections.com/index.php/2021/08/03/august-3-2021-oh-11-oh-15-primary-and-mayoral-races-liveblog

It's commendable that despite older voters turning out in higher numbers than younger voters, Turner kept a 5pt~ margin.

I think that says more about the growing appeal of progressive ideas than anything else.

May just need a slightly stronger GOTV operation.

[Pyro]

This was brought up and discussed already in the OH-11 thread.

Again, y'all: Clyburn doesn't pick winners. He sides with them. Of course he gets petty about whomever doesn't heap praise on him but if it's a truly unwinnable outcome, he isn't going to endorse. That's why it took a month or more after the race narrowed & Democratic establishment infrastructure pouring in for him to jump into OH-11 ... He picks the winning team or keeps his mouth shut, pure and simple. Doubtful even 20% of Democratic voters outside of SC even would recognize his name when prompted. let alone care about what he has to say in out-of-state races (same goes for progressives wading into similar contests).

[Pyro]

Why are people acting like Brown is moderate? She supports Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

Is there evidence she supports either? People say things all the time.

It is true Brown lists her support for both objectives on her website and in earlier statements, emphasizing a public option over M4A and ethereally supporting the "principles" of the GND, but the issue I have is the influence of fossil fuel-adjacent doners and beneficiaries on the Brown Campaign. The DMFI maintains an oil executive as its biggest doner, the CBC Pac has former coal and gas lobbyists on its board, and endorsers like Rep. Weasy remain favorites of the oil industry. Of course, this doesn't necessary mean Brown will oppose climate change legislation in the vein of the GND, but to me it's a major red flag and something to watch for going forward.

[Pyro]

https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/1424067468750954499?s=21

Really irresponsible tweet from Bernie

"This campaign is not happening in isolation. It has always been part of a movement." - Nina Turner

The use of PACs to funnel unlimited funds from shady sources into political campaigns is a blatant stain on democracy, but it does no service to the progressive movement to lie back and complain about an unequal playing field. This is useless to talk about now that the election is over. Fight back, think strategically, and out-organize them. Save funds to blitz the airwaves as Brown's team did very effectively. Learn from the defeat and move forward.

I know for Bernie this was personal, but we will have more progressive candidates and more opportunities to win.

[Pyro]

The ride never ends!

https://twitter.com/TaylorPopielarz/status/1424899617846595590