COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist backed by former President Donald Trump, beat a bevy of Republicans in central Ohio, while Cuyahoga County Council member Shontel Brown pulled out a victory for the Democratic establishment in Cleveland, in a pair of primary elections for open House seats Tuesday.
The special elections were both viewed as a measure of voters’ influences, though low turnout and huge candidate fields complicated interpreting the results too broadly. In both races, party leaders showed they still held sway.
Carey’s race reinforced Trump’s status as GOP kingmaker, particularly after the former president’s preferred candidate lost a special election in Texas last week. Brown’s primary win over progressive Nina Turner handed another blow to a liberal wing that has been challenging the Democratic old guard with a more confrontational style.
Turner, a leading national voice for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns, was for many months the best known and most visible among 13 Democrats running in the fiercely fought primary and the choice of Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others.
But Brown, a centrist backed by Hillary Clinton, influential House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the Congressional Black Caucus, leading unions and many local leaders, prevailed after a surge in national attention to her campaign in the weeks leading up to the election.
In the heavily Democratic 11th Congressional District, she is strongly favored in the Nov. 2 general election over Laverne Gore, a business owner, consultant, trainer and community activist who won the Republican nomination.
In her victory speech, Brown said she has not sought “headlines or attention" in her nine years as a local legislator, but effectiveness and making headway.
“Things I’ve done haven’t gotten a lot of attention. They’re not sexy," she said. "But I don’t need the credit. I just need to make sure the people I have been called to serve are getting the resources they need. I’m not about lip service. I’m about public service.”
Turner said she knew the campaign would be an uphill battle.
“While we didn’t cross the river, we inspired thousands to dream bigger and expect more," she said in a Twitter statement. "We couldn’t overcome the influence of dark money, but we left our mark on OH11 and this nation.”
The race came at a pivotal moment for the progressive movement. Centrists have been ascendant in the early months of the President Joe Biden era, while the party's left flank has faced a series of defeats — in New York City's mayoral race, a Virginia gubernatorial primary and a Louisiana House race.
“Things I've done haven't gotten a lot of attention. They're not sexy. But I don't need the credit. I just need to make sure the people I have been called to serve are getting the resources they need. I'm not about lip service. I'm about public service."
Meanwhile, a contingent of moderates is worried that a leftward drift could cost the party seats in the next year’s midterm elections. Biden hasn’t heeded the left’s calls for more aggressive action on such issues as voting rights and immigration.
That’s left progressive leaders searching for new strategies that can bolster their influence. Turner would have added another voice to those efforts, but Brown successfully used her history of biting criticism of fellow Democrats — she once likened supporting Biden to being forced to eat excrement — against her.
The political newcomer Carey defeated a crowd of other Republican candidates in his Columbus-area race, including some with establishment backing and experience in state politics.
He’ll take on Democratic state Rep. Allison Russo, a health policy consultant who won the Democratic nomination, in the GOP-leaning 15th Congressional District this fall.
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