 So obviously I was incredibly excited when Nina Turner announced that she was running for Congress because this is Nina Turner I mean, this is an individual who is a leader in the progressive movement If not the next leader of the progressive movement, she is someone who can get people fired up She's influential. She has national name recognition and the thought of her Fighting in Congress alongside members of the squad perhaps as the leader of the squad I mean, obviously that could be a game changer in DC My worry though with her running for Congress is that progressives might get a little bit complacent because this is Nina Turner She's a political behemoth. So I worry that people might think This is gonna be an easy battle. So I don't have to really come through for Nina Turner But quite the contrary is true We have to fight to get her elected It is not going to be easy and I want to make that very very clear if she wins Which I hope she does and I think she has a great shot It's not going to be because this was an easy battle if she wins It will be because she ran a phenomenal campaign Against her opponents and she has many opponents This is a very competitive primary and predictably the state Democratic Party Establishment has come out against Nina Turner and that's really frustrating because Nina Turner has been a loyal Democrat for years she was a state senator in Ohio and I mean, they're not even opting to remain neutral They're coming out against her in full swing So they don't want her to win and because of that we have to make sure that we fight for Nina Turner We don't just sit back and expect her to win because it's Nina Turner We have to phone bank for her. We have to organize for her and if we can we have to donate to her campaign so I want to talk a little bit about the dynamics of this race because those who mistakenly thought that this would be easy a Wrong and an article by Daniel Moran's of HuffPost really illustrates What's its daycare? Like this is going to be a really tough battle He writes President Joe Biden's selection of representative Marcia Fudge to serve as housing secretary has sparked a scramble among Divergent factions of the Democratic Party to fill her solid blue seat in Ohio's 11th congressional district The activists left has united behind former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner While the Cleveland era Democratic establishment is coalescing behind Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Chantel Brown Who also chairs the county Democratic Party? Former state senators Shirley Smith and Jeff Johnson and former state representative John Barnes Jr All of whom resemble Brown ideologically are also contesting the seat the Democratic special election primary Which is all but certain to determine the overall winner is expected to take place in May The state is waiting for fudge to be confirmed and to formally vacate the seat before officially announcing the election date The race's outcome will either solidify the left status as a growing force on Capitol Hill Or show that the same traditional Democrats who made Biden the party's standard bearer Can still hold the line against one of the progressive movement's biggest stars This is really a proxy for what's happening with the Democratic Party nationally said David Cohen An Ohio politics expert at the University of Akron In Turner the voters of Ohio's 11th likely have their first real opportunity to send an anti-establishment Firebrand to Washington according to Cohen It's completely untested terrain for the left Cohen said so she already has Four opponents four moderates all running against her now at face value. You might think well That's four moderates who are going to split the vote among the establishment vote However, do I really need to remind you what happened in 2020? When all of the other establishment candidates Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar all dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden The same thing can easily happen to Nina Turner if we don't actually fight Now the good news is that Nina Turner does have a number of advantages She is a fundraising behemoth. She raised over a million dollars because she is a national figure Uh having said that though the establishment really likes these other candidates in particular shantel brown Who is drawing a lot of attention from the right wing? Israel lobby and if they want to defeat Nina Turner and they see that she's ahead in terms of fundraising They can easily bank real shantel brown No questions asked. So we don't necessarily know how this is going to turn out And basically my main point in talking about this is that I don't want you to take the situation For granted this opportunity more specifically for granted if we want this victory We have to fight for it if Nina Turner does not win She has a good shot, but if she does not win This is unquestionably a failure on our part. So this really is a true test. This is a proxy At the local level in Ohio If we can win here, then we can once again reassert our dominance in the democratic party But if we lose this race, then this is further evidence that the party can still easily crush progressives even Behemoths like Nina Turner So all that I'm asking is for you to do Everything in your power to make sure that we make Nina Turner successful don't Question whether or not you didn't do enough like this is my philosophy, you know during the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2020 Even if we lose I want to at least know That I did everything in my power to make him successful. So that way if we lose I will feel better about myself at least So we have to come through. I don't want to be doom and gloom. I think Nina Turner has a phenomenal shot And I think she could win But I just want you to know that it's going to be a battle It's not going to be easy. No victory is going to come easily and that includes this battle as well So please if you can Put in time and effort to make sure that Nina Turner is electorally successful here