While Brown, the chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, has the backing of nearly every senior member of the CBC, Turner has been endorsed by the biggest progressive names in Washington, including Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). In a perfect split screen, the CBC leaders stumped in the district the same weekend that Sanders appeared for Turner.
“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.”
In some ways, this primary is another iteration of a feud between liberal insurgents and longtime Black lawmakers that has been brewing for years. It grew particularly contentious in 2020 when Justice Democrats, a progressive group known for targeting incumbents, backed challengers to Beatty and Rep. Lacy Clay, a son of a founding member of the CBC.
Beatty survived her primary. Clay did not, and he was replaced in Congress by now-Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a Black activist and nurse.
To longtime CBC members, these insurgent candidates — Turner included — are unfairly questioning the liberal bona fides of Black party elders who spent decades earning their way to the upper echelons of government.
“The CBC is very liberal,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “It was liberal when it was founded. This isn’t liberals versus moderates. It’s something else.”
“We’re pragmatists, that’s how I’ll say it,” he added.
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.
