Thread by @JordanChariton

THREAD on @ninaturner loss: Unlike the phony leftist tweeters celebrating Turner's loss, I was on-the-ground in Cleveland-Akron & spoke w/ campaign folks & witnessed w/ my own eyes.

She didn't lose bc "she ran as a Democrat" (would have lost by 50 if she ran as Green Party)...

She didn't lose bc she "tried to court conservative Democrats" instead of running scorched earth against @JoeBiden and the Democratic Party (Biden beat Trump by 30+ points in this district; the area is majority Black voters who don't hate the Dem Party like YT hosts do)...

She didn't lose bc of "The Squad" of Force The Vote—a laughable claim considering the majority of voters in this district wouldn't be able to tell you which politicians are even in The Squad...

She lost for multiple reasons.

1) Although @ninaturner raised a ton of $$, in final weeks before the election, Dem Party Super Pacs FLOODED TV here with ads smearing Turner. Just being in hotel room days b4 election, I couldn't turn the channel w/ out seeing anti-Turner ads...

2) Not only TV ads, but u couldn't drive around Cleveland w/out seeing large billboards quoting Nina's "bowl of shit" @JoeBiden comments.

Flooding TV/street signs with negative ads is a very effective & powerful thing-especially in a local special election in dead of summer...

3) @ninaturner's campaign didn't go negative against Brown until a few weeks before the election. By the time they did, the MILLIONS worth of negative ads against her had already been on TV for awhile.

4) From multiple sources, other than the flood of volunteers that came in..

in the final days before the election to knock on doors for Turner, the campaign did not have a strong ground game/field operation. In particular, voter turnout was particularly low in Akron—an area Turner had to run up the score (she won there by a point)...

For people trying to simplify @ninaturner's loss as "she ran as a Dem-please realize those folks have no idea what they're talking about and are just reactionaries doing a damn good job of dividing the left.

Turner was up by 35 points just 2-3 months ago running as a Democrat...

Whether she ran as a Democrat, Green Party, or fill-in-the-blank party, the same flood of $$ would have come in against her (money that worked based on the reasons many voters gave for supporting Brown to volunteers knocking on doors).

This doesn't mean the Dem Party is great...

Or folks shouldn't be trying other paths like a third party, or in my view, the most effective—economic boycotts.

But anyone telling you Turner lost bc she ran as a Dem or didn't run scorched earth enough are simply uninformed reactionaries who are more interested in ranting...

and raving online than actually seizing power. These are mostly the same folks who rightfully complain when The Squad doesn't fight, but then when @CoriBush camps out at the Capitol, calls out Biden/Dems for days, gets mass media attention & gets eviction moratorium extended....

It's a "photo-op" & "not enough" and doesn't matter because....BOO! she wouldn't answer a question on Force the Vote.

Here's the reality: @ninaturner got crushed by big money &, like most losing campaigns, her campaign had weaknesses (namely a bad field operation). But Turner...

didn't lose in a landslide--she lost by 6% (way less than @CoriBush's first primary defeat). She could potentially run against Brown again next year as Brown will be up for re-election again next year. She could run for OH Senate in 2022. Or not run again...

But beyond what @ninaturner does, I will emphatically say...the left will continue to lose if it continues to eat itself alive and focus more on organizing nonstop click-baity YouTube streams declaring everyone and their mother frauds and sell outs instead of organizing around..

strong progressive candidates, organizing primary challengers to corporate Dems (and if necessary elected progressives not fighting/going along w/ corp Dems too much), or organizing economic protests and boycotts.

It's easy to bitch & complain online--& many of those doing so...

have understandable anger, frustration, and cynicism based on the lack of a fight among progressives in Congress against Biden and the Dems. Anger can be a good thing if it is used STRATEGICALLY to seize power. If it's used to just create an endless circular firing squad...

The left will continue to lose & remain in the political wilderness.

Finally, please realize folks celebrating @ninaturner losing are not real leftists & don't have policy as their top priority. Turner ran unequivocally on #MedicareForAll @GreenNewDeal and other progressive...

policies and did not waver on those things. She has a strong track record of fighting for progressive change.

The struggle continues...as Turner said last night, we don't have time or a choice to roll up into fetal position and surrender.