With nearly all the 11th Congressional District candidates in one room Wednesday, Nina Turner showed why she’s the front-runner: analysis

The 11th Congressional District special election has a surplus of candidates.

Emphasis on the word “surplus” – as in there are 13 candidates in this race, only around half of whom have an overt understanding of policy. Even fewer of those have any shot whatsoever at winning.

That was abundantly clear during the cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer editorial board endorsement meeting Wednesday. Twelve of the candidates were all in one room taking questions from the Editorial Board and it showed a clear pattern of what the talent in this race is actually like.

Through numerous forums and in-depth interviews, it’s become increasingly clear that only a handful of the 13 who will be in the Aug. 3 ballot have any real policy chops. Tariq Shabazz, the 27-year-old Navy veteran and activist is definitely a wonk and conceivably has a political future. Former City Councilman Jeff Johnson also has shown a high level of understanding and detail when discussing issues like criminal justice reform and economics.

Their problem, however, is they haven’t been able to crystallize that policy knowledge into a message that reverberates.

Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, whom many thought would be in a dogfight with Turner just seven months ago, has slipped tremendously. She figured to have all the establishment help she could ask for when she first announced, but the necessary gusto hasn’t seemed to coalesce.

It was evident during the editorial board interview, with many of her answers sounding repetitious. Talking points are important to a campaign, but being unable or unwilling to deviate from those talking points simply isn’t going to win over voters.

The fact of the matter is, based on interviews, public appearances, fundraising, endorsements and most other metrics, former state Sen. Nina Turner looks like she’s running away in the race. It certainly looked that way at the Editorial Board interview 

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The short of it, at this point, is that Turner is the most comfortable under pressure and has the ability to clearly deliver her pitch to the audience.

Take, for example, a question from the editorial board about bipartisanship and working across the aisle in the currently toxic political environment. Most of the answers, especially from previously elected officials, were full of platitudes about finding common ground and reaching compromise, some of them pointing to examples of them working with Republicans in the past.

Working together is a great ideal, but the reality is Republicans have shown little interest in working with Democrats in the House since losing the chamber in 2018. Turner was one of the only candidates who wanted to acknowledge that.

“I would say working with is a two-way street,” Turner said. “Though it is absolutely noble to say we would work with our Republican colleagues where we can find common ground, it remains to be seen whether or not we can find common ground. I would not cede any territory to the Republicans in the spirit of working with when it comes to justice issues.”

A lot of this comes from her time in the national spotlight, but it appears to be working on voters in the district as well, if Turner’s internal polling is to be believed. A survey released just a couple weeks ago showed Turner with 50% support while the rest of the field was struggling to even break into the double digits.

Others will say Turner has a baked-in advantage through her national fundraising contacts. Or that her association with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gives her an instant leg up. Or that she has a press advantage, via her frequent appearances on national television. (Though, if you ask many of her supporters, they’ll say the media is out to get her.)

Those things are all true. It’s called “politics,” and literally any other candidate who wants to win this race right now would trade places with her.

2020 vs. 2021 pic.twitter.com/kmQYXjCN70

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) June 18, 2021

"Too much life". pic.twitter.com/U3eRkFv67E

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Just as WEF-partnered Blackrock works to buy up entire neighborhoods, Mike Bloomberg's rag calls for the US to become a "nation of renters".

Own nothing, be happy, while Blackrock owns it all.https://t.co/GnZJi7naiQ

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