Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of the top Democrats in the House, has backed a candidate going up against Sen. Bernie Sanders acolyte Nina Turner in the race to represent Ohio’s 11th Congressional District.
Clyburn, whose endorsement of then-candidate Joe Biden helped sway the primary in his favor, endorsed Shontel Brown on Tuesday. The primary is set for Aug. 3.
“What I try to do is demonstrate by precept and example how we are to proceed as a party,” Clyburn told the New York Times. “When I spoke out against sloganeering, like ‘Burn, baby, burn’ in the 1960s and ‘defund the police,’ which I think is cutting the throats of the party, I know exactly where my constituents are. They are against that, and I’m against that.”
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Brown, in response to the endorsement, called Clyburn an “inspiration and a hero,” adding, “His support means so much to me and to this campaign, and I will proudly stand beside him in Congress as we work to improve the lives of the people and businesses in the OH-11, and across this country.”
The South Carolina lawmaker said his endorsement was not meant to be about Sanders or Turner specifically, though he took a shot at what he described as “sloganeering” off the party’s more liberal stances.
Brown, in addition to Clyburn’s endorsement, has received support from a number of establishment Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, and Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, while Turner has garnered support from the “Squad” of liberal legislators, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.
Clinton’s endorsement of Brown in mid-June led to Turner’s best fundraising day of her campaign at that point.
Turner, who started as a “Ready for Hillary” signee before changing her support for Sanders’s 2016 presidential candidacy, is vying alongside Brown to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Marcia Fudge, who left Congress to join the Biden administration as the secretary of housing and urban development.
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Turner’s campaign sent out a press release on Wednesday noting that she had a “six-figures” fundraising haul from Tuesday to Wednesday after a “corporate aligned” super PAC announced that it would begin advertising against her. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Clyburn’s endorsement of Brown.
