Nina Turner Announces Run For Congress
Nina Turner is up for a rematch against Rep. Shontel Brown, who beat Turner last year in the Democratic primary for Ohio’s predominately Black, 11th district.
The former state senator and progressive activist told NBC News, “The same environment that motivated me to run before motivates me to run again, The environment by which change needs to happen has not really percolated at this moment. I think that it's one thing for somebody to go and to vote the right way. But Greater Cleveland needs a fighter, and that's that's what I am.”
She also added, “I believe that I was the better candidate in 2021 and that has not changed.”
Turner lost to Brown in the special primary back in August. The seat was previously held by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge in the overwhelmingly Democratic 11th Congressional District, which is also undergoing a redistricting plan.
In the 1960s, the Black population accounted for 65 percent of the district’s population, encompassing Cleveland’s East Side and its nearby suburbs. Three decades later, statistics in the Almanac of American Politics find that the Black population makes up only 58 percent of the district. After the 2010 census, that number became 55.5 percent.
The current district, which has expanded to include Akron’s Black population after the 2010 census, proved it could not remain majority minority if it was solely confined to Cuyahoga County, which is now less than 53 percent Black, according to census statistics.
The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a Republican-drawn map because it was believed to be partisan.
