The winner of a special House election in northeast Ohio is almost certain to be one of two Black women. But the Congressional Black Caucus is intervening with an unusual goal: playing favorites between them.
Shontel Brown — the chosen candidate of the caucus — would honor “the rich history” of the group, not be someone who fights against it while “trying to make a name for themselves,” CBC Chairwoman Joyce Beatty said while campaigning in the district Saturday with other top Black lawmakers. Brown wouldn’t be “a single solitary know-it-all,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson . She wouldn’t “come in and try to break up that unity,” Rep. Gregory Meeks added.
Democratic Congressional candidate Nina Turner speaks during a Get Out the Vote rally at Agora Theater & Ballroom on Saturday in Cleveland. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images “I don't think that's conducive to our core values of respect,” Beatty said. Clyburn, she noted, is one of the most powerful Black men in the country. "And so, I'd send a message back to Nina Turner: Don't speak for the Congressional Black Caucus or me.”
"My record in public life is one that is singularly focused on the issues, and more importantly, the people the Caucus was created to serve," Turner said of the CBC's involvement in the race. "However, people are free to jump in and endorse anyone they want. I don't begrudge them for that. This is not a monarchy. I don't own any seat that I've ever had."
“The CBC is very liberal," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver . "It was liberal when it was founded. This isn’t liberals versus moderates. It’s something else."It’s true that many longtime CBC members have progressive credentials and back some of their trademark policy proposals, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. But some, including Clyburn, have expressed disdain for the "sloganeering" of the left and warned of rhetoric that doesn't produce results.
Longtime lawmakers have also recoiled at the idea of newcomers who fail to acknowledge those who came before them. In speeches last weekend in Ohio, CBC members noted that Brown had asked them for advice before running and that she was a star pupil at a candidate boot camp put on by the CBC Institute.
"I'll put it this way: That decision made Barbara Jordan and Ron Dellums roll over in their graves. Louis Stokes, too," Ben Jealous, a Turner ally and former NAACP president, said, referencing CBC founders and former chairs. "It was shameful."
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