Nina Turner says she is running for U.S. Congress again because ‘people need a champion’

Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and former national co-chair for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, said on Thursday she was running for Congress once again because “people are suffering” and her constituents “need a champion.”

“The needs are great and we don’t have a whole lot of time to show people that we care about them,” she told Hill.TV. “They do want to see healthcare as a human right, they do want to see minimum wage increase, they do know they need paid medical leave and family leave [and] they want to see voting rights expanded or protected.”

Turner lost a special election in Ohio’s 11th District last year but announced on Jan. 26 that she was once again running in the district for the 2022 midterm elections. The district includes the cities of Cleveland and Akron.

The candidate will face a rematch in the primary race against Rep. Shontel Brown, who beat her out in the special election to succeed Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge. Ohio has primaries scheduled for May 3.

On Thursday, Turner said she was a Republican “target” in the special election last year, claiming “thousands” of them targeted her because of her progressive policies and voted for opponent.

“Democrats should choose the nominee and not the Republicans,” she said. “We have to ask ourselves, are those the types of forces we want to define our elections?”