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Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) speaks at a news conference on September 17, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
(Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Clyburn Intervention Seen as Latest Salvo in Dem Establishment's Bid to Stop Nina Turner
"Nina Turner is surging and the big money interests are pulling out all the stops to defeat her."
Jun 30, 2021
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, threw his support behind Shontel Brown on Tuesday in the race to fill the vacant seat in Ohio's 11th Congressional District, the latest salvo in the party establishment's effort to forestall the momentum of progressive firebrand Nina Turner.
"People are chipping in $5, $10, $27 at a time because they know our grassroots movement cannot be stopped."
--Nina Turner
Brown, the leader of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, is Turner's top opponent in the August 3 special election, which observers have come to view as a proxy battle over key policy issues such as Medicare for All and over the broader ideological direction of the national party.
A top congressional recipient of pharmaceutical industry cash, Clyburn has long been a vocal opponent of Medicare for All despite polls showing the proposal is popular among his South Carolina constituents.
During an interview on Tuesday, Clyburn "took a swipe at what he called the 'sloganeering' of the party's left flank, which has risen to power with calls for 'Medicare for All,' and to 'abolish ICE' and 'defund the police,'" the New York Times reported.
While Brown told the Cleveland Plain Dealer earlier this month that she "certainly would be in favor of Medicare for All" if it reached the House floor for a vote, the Ohio Democrat went on to criticize the proposal in the same interview, characterizing the policy as an attempt to "eliminate employers from providing care for their employees."
"I know when I'm out in the community there are some people who are satisfied with the healthcare they're being provided," said Brown. "I certainly don't want to be the person to end that."
By contrast, Turner--a former Ohio state senator who served as a national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential bid--has campaigned as an unabashed supporter of Medicare for All. In a 30-second ad released earlier this month, Turner said she is fighting for Medicare for All on behalf of her late mother, who died at the age of 42 with "no insurance" and "no money in the bank."
"The poor, the working poor, and the barely middle class should live a good life," Turner said. "Wealth should not dictate whether or not you have access to healthcare."
\u201cWhen I fight for Medicare For All, I\u2019m fighting for my mama, who\u2019s no longer here. I\u2019m fighting for working class people who deserve to have healthcare as a right\u2014not a privilege.\n\nWealth should never dictate whether you are able to see a doctor or live a healthy life.\u201d— Nina Turner (@Nina Turner) 1623763880
As the Daily Poster's David Sirota and Julia Rock wrote Wednesday, corporate lobbyists held a fundraiser for Brown the day after Turner's ad dropped.
"Among those headlining the fundraiser was Jerome Murray--a registered lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association, which has been backing a nationwide campaign to reduce support for Medicare for All," Sirota and Rock noted. "The fundraiser was also headlined by a CVS Health lobbyist, as well as seven Democratic lawmakers who have raked in more than $5 million from donors in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors--including two whose top donating sector is the pharmaceutical industry."
"Now, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn--one of the Democratic Party's most outspoken opponents of Medicare for All--is intervening to try to halt Turner's rise in the polls," the pair added.
\u201cThe pharmaceutical companies are getting nervous.\nBig oil companies are getting nervous.\nThe billionaire class is is getting nervous.\n\nWhy? Nina Turner is surging & the big money interests are pulling out all the stops to defeat her. Don't let corporate greed prevail. #NotMeUs\u201d— Warren Gunnels (@Warren Gunnels) 1625017407
Clyburn's endorsement of Brown came two weeks after erstwhile Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced her support for the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair.
"First Clinton and now Clyburn," tweeted The Daily Poster's Walker Bragman. "Corporate Democrats really don't want to see Nina Turner elected to Congress. Pretty good selling point for Nina Turner, honestly."
Turner, for her part, has garnered high-profile endorsements from national progressive figures and advocacy groups, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the youth-led Sunrise Movement, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
While polling for the contest is scarce, Turner appears to be the frontrunner in the race as she continues to outraise Brown and other contenders by a long shot.
Earlier this month, a survey paid for by the Turner campaign and conducted by the outside polling firm Tulchin Research found that Turner has the support of 50% of likely Democratic voters in Ohio's 11th Congressional District. Brown polled at just 15% support, a distant second.
And according to Politico, Turner has raked in $3 million since her campaign kicked off in December. The progressive champion "has some 47,000 donors with an average contribution of $27," Politico noted.
In the wake of Clyburn's endorsement of Brown on Tuesday, Turner tweeted that "our campaign is seeing a SURGE in fundraising from donors across the country."
"People are chipping in $5, $10, $27 at a time because they know our grassroots movement cannot be stopped," Turner added.
Marisa Nahem, Turner's press secretary, announced Wednesday morning that the campaign brought in six figures in donations over just the last 24 hours.
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Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, threw his support behind Shontel Brown on Tuesday in the race to fill the vacant seat in Ohio's 11th Congressional District, the latest salvo in the party establishment's effort to forestall the momentum of progressive firebrand Nina Turner.
"People are chipping in $5, $10, $27 at a time because they know our grassroots movement cannot be stopped."
--Nina Turner
Brown, the leader of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, is Turner's top opponent in the August 3 special election, which observers have come to view as a proxy battle over key policy issues such as Medicare for All and over the broader ideological direction of the national party.
A top congressional recipient of pharmaceutical industry cash, Clyburn has long been a vocal opponent of Medicare for All despite polls showing the proposal is popular among his South Carolina constituents.
During an interview on Tuesday, Clyburn "took a swipe at what he called the 'sloganeering' of the party's left flank, which has risen to power with calls for 'Medicare for All,' and to 'abolish ICE' and 'defund the police,'" the New York Times reported.
While Brown told the Cleveland Plain Dealer earlier this month that she "certainly would be in favor of Medicare for All" if it reached the House floor for a vote, the Ohio Democrat went on to criticize the proposal in the same interview, characterizing the policy as an attempt to "eliminate employers from providing care for their employees."
"I know when I'm out in the community there are some people who are satisfied with the healthcare they're being provided," said Brown. "I certainly don't want to be the person to end that."
By contrast, Turner--a former Ohio state senator who served as a national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential bid--has campaigned as an unabashed supporter of Medicare for All. In a 30-second ad released earlier this month, Turner said she is fighting for Medicare for All on behalf of her late mother, who died at the age of 42 with "no insurance" and "no money in the bank."
"The poor, the working poor, and the barely middle class should live a good life," Turner said. "Wealth should not dictate whether or not you have access to healthcare."
\u201cWhen I fight for Medicare For All, I\u2019m fighting for my mama, who\u2019s no longer here. I\u2019m fighting for working class people who deserve to have healthcare as a right\u2014not a privilege.\n\nWealth should never dictate whether you are able to see a doctor or live a healthy life.\u201d— Nina Turner (@Nina Turner) 1623763880
As the Daily Poster's David Sirota and Julia Rock wrote Wednesday, corporate lobbyists held a fundraiser for Brown the day after Turner's ad dropped.
"Among those headlining the fundraiser was Jerome Murray--a registered lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association, which has been backing a nationwide campaign to reduce support for Medicare for All," Sirota and Rock noted. "The fundraiser was also headlined by a CVS Health lobbyist, as well as seven Democratic lawmakers who have raked in more than $5 million from donors in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors--including two whose top donating sector is the pharmaceutical industry."
"Now, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn--one of the Democratic Party's most outspoken opponents of Medicare for All--is intervening to try to halt Turner's rise in the polls," the pair added.
\u201cThe pharmaceutical companies are getting nervous.\nBig oil companies are getting nervous.\nThe billionaire class is is getting nervous.\n\nWhy? Nina Turner is surging & the big money interests are pulling out all the stops to defeat her. Don't let corporate greed prevail. #NotMeUs\u201d— Warren Gunnels (@Warren Gunnels) 1625017407
Clyburn's endorsement of Brown came two weeks after erstwhile Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced her support for the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair.
"First Clinton and now Clyburn," tweeted The Daily Poster's Walker Bragman. "Corporate Democrats really don't want to see Nina Turner elected to Congress. Pretty good selling point for Nina Turner, honestly."
Turner, for her part, has garnered high-profile endorsements from national progressive figures and advocacy groups, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the youth-led Sunrise Movement, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
While polling for the contest is scarce, Turner appears to be the frontrunner in the race as she continues to outraise Brown and other contenders by a long shot.
Earlier this month, a survey paid for by the Turner campaign and conducted by the outside polling firm Tulchin Research found that Turner has the support of 50% of likely Democratic voters in Ohio's 11th Congressional District. Brown polled at just 15% support, a distant second.
And according to Politico, Turner has raked in $3 million since her campaign kicked off in December. The progressive champion "has some 47,000 donors with an average contribution of $27," Politico noted.
In the wake of Clyburn's endorsement of Brown on Tuesday, Turner tweeted that "our campaign is seeing a SURGE in fundraising from donors across the country."
"People are chipping in $5, $10, $27 at a time because they know our grassroots movement cannot be stopped," Turner added.
Marisa Nahem, Turner's press secretary, announced Wednesday morning that the campaign brought in six figures in donations over just the last 24 hours.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, threw his support behind Shontel Brown on Tuesday in the race to fill the vacant seat in Ohio's 11th Congressional District, the latest salvo in the party establishment's effort to forestall the momentum of progressive firebrand Nina Turner.
"People are chipping in $5, $10, $27 at a time because they know our grassroots movement cannot be stopped."
--Nina Turner
Brown, the leader of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, is Turner's top opponent in the August 3 special election, which observers have come to view as a proxy battle over key policy issues such as Medicare for All and over the broader ideological direction of the national party.
A top congressional recipient of pharmaceutical industry cash, Clyburn has long been a vocal opponent of Medicare for All despite polls showing the proposal is popular among his South Carolina constituents.
During an interview on Tuesday, Clyburn "took a swipe at what he called the 'sloganeering' of the party's left flank, which has risen to power with calls for 'Medicare for All,' and to 'abolish ICE' and 'defund the police,'" the New York Times reported.
While Brown told the Cleveland Plain Dealer earlier this month that she "certainly would be in favor of Medicare for All" if it reached the House floor for a vote, the Ohio Democrat went on to criticize the proposal in the same interview, characterizing the policy as an attempt to "eliminate employers from providing care for their employees."
"I know when I'm out in the community there are some people who are satisfied with the healthcare they're being provided," said Brown. "I certainly don't want to be the person to end that."
By contrast, Turner--a former Ohio state senator who served as a national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential bid--has campaigned as an unabashed supporter of Medicare for All. In a 30-second ad released earlier this month, Turner said she is fighting for Medicare for All on behalf of her late mother, who died at the age of 42 with "no insurance" and "no money in the bank."
"The poor, the working poor, and the barely middle class should live a good life," Turner said. "Wealth should not dictate whether or not you have access to healthcare."
\u201cWhen I fight for Medicare For All, I\u2019m fighting for my mama, who\u2019s no longer here. I\u2019m fighting for working class people who deserve to have healthcare as a right\u2014not a privilege.\n\nWealth should never dictate whether you are able to see a doctor or live a healthy life.\u201d— Nina Turner (@Nina Turner) 1623763880
As the Daily Poster's David Sirota and Julia Rock wrote Wednesday, corporate lobbyists held a fundraiser for Brown the day after Turner's ad dropped.
"Among those headlining the fundraiser was Jerome Murray--a registered lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association, which has been backing a nationwide campaign to reduce support for Medicare for All," Sirota and Rock noted. "The fundraiser was also headlined by a CVS Health lobbyist, as well as seven Democratic lawmakers who have raked in more than $5 million from donors in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors--including two whose top donating sector is the pharmaceutical industry."
"Now, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn--one of the Democratic Party's most outspoken opponents of Medicare for All--is intervening to try to halt Turner's rise in the polls," the pair added.
\u201cThe pharmaceutical companies are getting nervous.\nBig oil companies are getting nervous.\nThe billionaire class is is getting nervous.\n\nWhy? Nina Turner is surging & the big money interests are pulling out all the stops to defeat her. Don't let corporate greed prevail. #NotMeUs\u201d— Warren Gunnels (@Warren Gunnels) 1625017407
Clyburn's endorsement of Brown came two weeks after erstwhile Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced her support for the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair.
"First Clinton and now Clyburn," tweeted The Daily Poster's Walker Bragman. "Corporate Democrats really don't want to see Nina Turner elected to Congress. Pretty good selling point for Nina Turner, honestly."
Turner, for her part, has garnered high-profile endorsements from national progressive figures and advocacy groups, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the youth-led Sunrise Movement, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
While polling for the contest is scarce, Turner appears to be the frontrunner in the race as she continues to outraise Brown and other contenders by a long shot.
Earlier this month, a survey paid for by the Turner campaign and conducted by the outside polling firm Tulchin Research found that Turner has the support of 50% of likely Democratic voters in Ohio's 11th Congressional District. Brown polled at just 15% support, a distant second.
And according to Politico, Turner has raked in $3 million since her campaign kicked off in December. The progressive champion "has some 47,000 donors with an average contribution of $27," Politico noted.
In the wake of Clyburn's endorsement of Brown on Tuesday, Turner tweeted that "our campaign is seeing a SURGE in fundraising from donors across the country."
"People are chipping in $5, $10, $27 at a time because they know our grassroots movement cannot be stopped," Turner added.
Marisa Nahem, Turner's press secretary, announced Wednesday morning that the campaign brought in six figures in donations over just the last 24 hours.
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LATEST NEWS
Omar, Ramirez Among First in Congress to Decry 'Unconstitutional' Trump Strike on Boat
"They're now using the failed War on Drugs to justify their egregious violation of international law," the Minnesota progressive said of the Trump administration.
Sep 04, 2025
Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Delia Ramirez on Thursday strongly condemned the Trump administration's deadly attack on a boat allegedly trafficking cocaine off the coast of Venezuela as "lawless and reckless," while urging the White House to respect lawmakers' "clear constitutional authority on matters of war and peace."
"Congress has not declared war on Venezuela, or Tren de Aragua, and the mere designation of a group as a terrorist organization does not give any president carte blanche," said Omar (D-Minn.), referring to President Donald Trump's day one executive order designating drug cartels including the Venezuela-based group as foreign terrorist organizations.
Trump—who reportedly signed a secret order directing the Pentagon to use military force to combat cartels abroad—said that Tuesday's US strike in international waters killed 11 people. The attack sparked fears of renewed US aggression in a region that has endured well over 100 US interventions over the past 200 years, and against a country that has suffered US meddling since the late 19th century.
"It appears that US forces that were recently sent to the region in an escalatory and provocative manner were under no threat from the boat they attacked," Omar cotended. "There is no conceivable legal justification for this use of force. Unless compelling evidence emerges that they were acting in self-defense, that makes the strike a clear violation of international law."
Omar continued:
They're now using the failed War on Drugs to justify their egregious violation of international law. The US posture towards the eradication of drugs has caused immeasurable damage across our hemisphere. It has led to massive forced displacement, environmental devastation, violence, and human rights violations. What it has not done is any damage whatsoever to narcotrafficking or to the cartels. It has been a dramatic, profound failure at every level. In Latin America, even right-wing presidents acknowledge this is true.
The congresswoman's remarks came on the same day that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated a pair of Ecuadorean drug gangs as terrorist organizations while visiting the South American nation. This, after Rubio said that US attacks on suspected drug traffickers "will happen again."
"Trump and Rubio's apparent solution" to the failed drug war, said Omar, is "to make it even more militarized," an effort that "is doomed to fail."
"Worse, it risks spiraling into the exact type of endless, pointless conflict that Trump supposedly opposes," she added.
Echoing critics including former Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth, who called Tuesday's strike a "summary execution," Ramirez (D-Ill.) said Thursday on social media that "Trump and the Pentagon executed 11 people in the Caribbean, 1,500 miles away from the United States, without a legal rationale."
"From Iran to Venezuela, to DC, LA, and Chicago, Trump continues to abuse our military power, undermine the rule of law, and erode our constitutional boundaries in political spectacles," Ramirez added, referring to the president's ordering of strikes on Iran and National Guard deployments to Los Angeles, the nation's capital, and likely beyond.
"Presidents don't bomb first and ask questions later," Ramirez added. "Wannabe dictators do that."
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Two judges appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit by President Donald Trump issued a Thursday decision that allows a newly established but already notorious immigrant detention center in Florida, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, to stay open.
Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida sought "to halt the unlawful construction" of the site. Last month, Judge Kathleen Williams—appointed by former President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida—ordered the closure of the facility within 60 days.
However, on Thursday, Circuit Judges Elizabeth Branch and Barbara Lagoa blocked Williams' decision, concluding that "the balance of the harms and our consideration of the public interest favor a stay of the preliminary injunction."
Judge Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee, issued a brief but scathing dissent. He wrote that the majority "essentially ignores the burden borne by the defendants, pays only lip service to the abuse of discretion standard, engages in its own factfinding, declines to consider the district court's determination on irreparable harm, and performs its own balancing of the equities."
The 11th Circuit's ruling was cheered by the US Department of Homeland Security, Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who declared in a video that "Alligator Alcatraz is, in fact, like we've always said, open for business."
Uthmeier's communications director, Jeremy Redfern, collected responses to the initial ruling by state and federal Democrats, and urged them to weigh in on social media. Florida state Sen. Shevrin "Shev" Jones (D-34) did, stressing that "cruelty is still cruelty."
In a Thursday statement, Florida Immigrant Coalition deputy director Renata Bozzetto said that "the 11th Circuit is allowing atrocities to happen by reversing the injunction that helped to paralyze something that has been functioning as an extrajudicial site in our own state! The Everglades Detention Camp isn't just an environmental threat; it is also a huge human rights crisis."
"Housing thousands of men in tents in the middle of a fragile ecosystem puts immense strain on Florida's source environment, but even more troublesome, it disregards human rights and our constitutional commitments," Bozzetto continued. "This is a place where hundreds of our neighbors were illegally held, were made invisible within government systems, and were subjected to inhumane heat and unbearable treatment. The fact that a facility embedded in so much pain is allowed to reopen is absolutely disheartening! The only just solution is to shut this facility down and ensure that no facility like this opens in our state!"
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Healthcare Giants Have Raked in 'Sick Profits' From Trump Tax Cuts While Stiffing Patients: Report
The report found that seven of America's biggest healthcare companies have collectively dodged $34 billion in taxes as a result of Trump's 2017 tax law while making patient care worse.
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Pay for the seven companies' half-dozen top executives increased by a combined $100 million, 42%, on average. This is compared to the $14,000 pay increase that the average employee at these companies received over the same period, which is a much more modest increase of 24%.
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While data is scarce, the rate of denied insurance claims is believed to have risen since the law went into effect.
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Salespeople for the Cigna-owned company EviCore, which insurers hire to review claims, have even boasted that they help companies reduce their costs by increasing denials by 15%, part of a model that ProPublica has called the "denials for dollars business." Their investigation in 2024 found that insurers have used EviCore to evaluate whether to pay for coverage for over 100 million people.
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