Failing Upward: ‘Squad’ Acolyte Teases Presidential Run After Second Straight Primary Loss

Following 33-point drubbing, Nina Turner compares herself to ‘King James’

Collin Anderson • May 4, 2022 1:10 pm

Democrat Nina Turner lost her second consecutive House primary Tuesday night. That didn’t stop the “Squad” acolyte from using her concession speech to tease a 2024 presidential run and compare herself to LeBron James.

Turner’s bizarre rant came after she lost by a whopping 33 points to Ohio Democratic congresswoman Shontel Brown. Speaking in the third person, Turner assured her election night party attendees that she “ain’t going nowhere” and plans to “see some folks in 2024.”

“Sister Turner ain’t going nowhere. … They can’t contain this black girl magic. Cause what I am gonna do is, I’m gonna take this magic all over this country and shake it that way,” Turner said. “2024 is coming, and I think the great state of California got something to say about what sister Turner should do. The great state of Iowa got something to say about what sister Turner should do. The great state of Nevada got something to say about what sister Turner should do.”

“We ain’t going nowhere. They just reinforced my resolve,” Turner continued. “And just like King James, LeBron James decided to take his skills to South Beach—but what sister Turner’s gonna do is continue taking my skills all over this nation, and I’m gonna see some folks in 2024. Stay tuned.”

At the end of her concession speech @ninaturner goes off script, in the most fire speech I’ve seen in a long time. Hints at 2024. pic.twitter.com/sWl0LQNbPA

— barbarism critic (@SxarletRed) May 4, 2022

Turner did not respond to a request for comment on her presidential aspirations. Her lopsided loss comes after she attempted to airbrush her anti-Israel past, which played a crucial role in her surprise 2021 primary loss to Brown. 

During that race, Turner called to condition aid to the Jewish state, expressed “solidarity” with a far-left group that accused Israel of apartheid, and blamed her loss on “evil money” after Democratic pro-Israel groups backed her opponent. Those groups, including Democratic Majority for Israel and the Jewish Democratic Council of America, supported Brown in the 2022 rematch, which took place in a Cleveland district that holds a sizable Orthodox Jewish population.

Turner’s self-comparison to James, an all-star forward and noted China apologist, is a peculiar one. While some basketball analysts have criticized James’s less-than-stellar NBA finals record—the Laker has lost 6 of his 10 finals appearances—his status as a winner is undisputed when compared to Turner. The Democrat has yet to win a federal campaign, both as a candidate and as an operative. In addition to her back-to-back House primary losses, Turner served as national co-chair on Bernie Sanders’s failed 2020 presidential campaign.

Turner was not the only Sanders ally to lose big in the Buckeye State on Tuesday. Fellow Squad acolyte Morgan Harper fell to congressman Tim Ryan by 52 points in the state’s Democratic Senate primary.