The corporate Democrats achieved a victory on Aug. 3 in a special election for a congressional seat in Ohio.

Shontel Brown, the favorite of the corporatists, won by almost 6 percent of the vote over Nina Turner, herself a Left/Progressive. Those among the Democratic leadership pushed hard to get Brown elected, meaning that they don't want real change but instead want to maintain the establishment. For example, Jim Clyburn, the Democratic House Majority Whip and leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, was in a TV ad for Brown where he negatively criticized Turner. (The other ads that were shown, characterized by half-truths and lies, were relentless in demonizing Turner.) What Clyburn didn't mention was that he was not an advocate for Medicare for All, calling it "socialized medicine," and he receives plenty of donations from the pharmaceutical industry. Hillary Clinton, the "true progressive," threw her weight behind Brown by endorsing her. This was the general posture of neoliberal/corporate Democrats in their support of Brown.

Brown also received strong support from the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI). This super pac is headed by Mark Mellman, who, according to Norman Solomon writing in Counterpunch (07/23/2021), was "a longtime strategist for AIPAC, the powerful right-wing group more formerly known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which remained closely aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu throughout his long and racist tenure as Israel's prime minister." Solomon also mentions Pro-Israel America, "[a]nother spinoff from AIPAC that's also spending big bucks on advertising against Turner." "Its founder and executive director, Jeff Mendelsohn, worked as a high-level AIPAC operative for more than 10 years."  Brown is a slavish supporter of Israel regardless of its apartheid policies against Palestinians.

Republicans were encouraged to vote for Brown since the contest between her and Turner was an open primary where one could cross party lines and vote for the other side. In a piece by Solomon published in Counterpunch a day after the election, rabid right-winger William Kristol is mentioned and his attempts to persuade Republicans to vote for Brown: "The choice is a radical leftist or a Biden Democrat, @ShontelMBrown. Any registered voter–including independents and Republicans–can request a Democratic primary ballot."

Another noteworthy supporter: Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and a friend of Donald Trump. Solomon wrote that Kraft "personally maxed out $5,800 to Brown's campaign and whose family gave a total of more than $20,000."

And that's not all. GOP donors have contributed heavily to the likes of DMFI, which supported Brown. In the Intercept (07/27/2021), Matthew Cunningham-Cook wrote that "Leonard Feinstein, who donated $25,000 to DMFI on June 14, has made large contributions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee [and] the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County [Ohio]." "David Heller, a Cleveland-area real estate executive, donated $10,000 to DMFI on February 23 and also donated $2,800 to Brown." "Steven Fishman, who donated $20,000 to DMFI on June 14, made over $10,000 in campaign contributions to Republicans running in 2020..." "Neil Kadisha, who donated $2,000 to Brown on June 1 and $18,000 to DMFI on June 14, donated to Trump's reelection campaign in 2019..." And there are other GOP donors who gave to DMFI and in turn indirectly supported Brown's campaign.

Nina Turner received no support from GOP donors and neoliberal/corporate Democrats. While Brown is fake, Turner is for real, supporting what are actually commonsense policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. And Turner is not giving up the struggle. But it's too bad that some Democrats–and certainly Republicans–show strong opposition to these policies, while many U.S. citizens support them.

Despite the election loss to Brown, Nina Turner will be back.