Is Nina Turner back on her feet for another go on the Ohio campaign trail?
Cleveland, Ohio – Hello, somebody! Nina Turner has reportedly filed campaign papers to run for the Ohio-11 House seat again in 2022.
According to The Intercept, Turner has filed campaign papers to fight for the same congressional seat she tried to win in the Ohio-11 Democratic special election primary.
Turner was the frontrunner to take over the House seat left vacant by Marcia Fudge, now US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
As 2016 national surrogate and 2020 national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns, Turner had already made a name for herself as a progressive powerhouse.
Her small-donor funded campaign focused on Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, racial justice, and affordable housing and education, among other progressive policies.
Turner's popularity showed, as she was leading in the polls until the final days before the Democratic primary.
That's when big donors, many of them GOP-backed, starting dumping around $2 million into ads attacking Turner and promoting her main Democratic rival, Shontel Brown. A big chunk of those funds was invested in the last days before the election.
The ad campaign appeared to have a devastating effect on Turner, who narrowly lost to Brown in a race with very low turnout. The district itself is solidly blue, making Brown the overwhelming favorite to win the general election on November 2.
Despite the recent loss, it appears the former Ohio state senator isn't staying down for long, taking the first necessary step to give Brown a run for her money once again.
With the high-profile 2022 midterms rapidly approaching, supporters hope Turner's ascension to Congress might merely come one year later than they had originally wished.
Though filing campaign papers does not mean Turner is definitely going to run, the news has reignited hope for many progressives across the country.
Cover photo: IMAGO / Pacific Press Agency