Shontel Brown beats out Nina Turner in Ohio's 11th District Democratic primary

(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

By Collin Cunningham

(CLEVELAND) Cuyahoga County Council member Shontel Brown is in line to represent Ohio's 11th Congressional District in the House after her progressive opponent Nina Turner conceded in the Democratic primary on Tuesday evening.

According to Patch, the Ohio Secretary of State's office reports Brown came out on top with 33,592 votes compared to Turner's 29,430 votes. Both are residents of Cleveland, with CNN projecting them to face off against Cleveland Republican LaVerne Gore during the Nov. 2 general election for the District 11 seat.

Both were vying for a congressional position vacated by Marcia Fudge, the current Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She left the role in March to join President Joe Biden's administration.

Brown succeeded in playing the name game in the weeks leading up to the election, with the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chair airing attack ads that tore into Turner's refusal to side with Biden for more progressive policies. Essentially, the argument was as follows: "She doesn't like Joe Biden so she must love Donald Trump, right?"

CNN Politics reports that Brown had also been backed by more traditionalist party members like Hillary Clinton while Turner's more progressive allies include New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Politico reports that the biggest contributor to Brown's televised campaign was the Democratic Majority for Israel political action committee, which dropped nearly $1 million on ads. Despite the source of the money, none of the commercials focused on Turner's May decision to show support for Palestinians via a tweet.

"I am going to work hard to ensure that something like this never happens to a progressive candidate again," Turner said on Tuesday in reference to the Israel PAC and other spenders. "We didn’t lose this race — the evil money manipulated and maligned this election."

Turner was not the only person to criticize the influence of money in Tuesday's election and elections in general.

The Politico story continues that Fudge had mentored Brown, who was also supported on Tuesday by leaders from the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Results over rhetoric won out the day," Brown told supporters at a victory party on Tuesday, adding that she had received a phone call from the President in response. “You can’t erode nine years of public work with a 30-second commercial.”

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