In the race to see who will faceoff against President Donald Trump in 2020 (provided he is not impeached in the House and convicted in the Senate) Democratic voters are narrowing down their choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The still crowded Democratic field lost another contender with Beto O\u2019Rourke dropping out on the first day of this month. At the top, the three names that have remained steadfast are the ones that have been most familiar to voters over the past 12 years or so \u2013 former vice president Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). What could be the ultimate determining factor as to who prevails is who carries the Black vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanders is making his case; and he\u2019s doing so with the help of his national campaign co-chair, former Ohio state senator, Nina Turner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turner, who served in the Ohio Senate from 2008-2014, has been affiliated with Sanders since 2016 when she endorsed him for president after first endorsing former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. As Sanders\u2019 national co-chair, Turner\u2019s job is to help in turning out every vote, which means also spreading their message that Sanders is the best candidate to represent the interests of Black voters. Right now, former vice president Joe Biden is polling best among likely Black voters \u2013 due largely to older voters. Turner said that has to do less about policy, and more about proximity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s face it, a lot of older African-American voters are weighing the former vice president in proximity to the nation\u2019s first Black president (Barack Obama),\u201d said Turner in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Insight News<\/em> prior to Sanders\u2019 Nov. 3 rally at Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota. \u201cWhat I would challenge older Black voters to do is not look at the proximity to the first Black president and look at one\u2019s vision in this particular moment to lift all people; and I would surmise that when you have someone talking about cancelling all student debt \u2026 something African-American, particularly African-American women who are weighed down by that debt are concerned about\u2026 that is something older African-Americans should pay attention to and say, \u2018Yes, Sen. Bernie Sanders is the right person for me, and also for my children and grandchildren.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Turner said Sanders\u2019 call for healthcare as a right for all Americans should also speak directly to the Black voter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you look at health disparities of African-American women, we still die at higher rates than white women in this country \u2013 even in the 21st<\/sup> century \u2013 during childbirth. Our Black babies die at higher rates,\u201d said Turner. \u201cSo, when you have somebody saying we need universal healthcare in this country, that is speaking to the needs of African-American people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Turner also addressed Sanders\u2019 stance on reparations for descendants of slaves, saying the senator is in favor of a House bill championed by the late Rep. John Conyers and sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) that establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans. The bill, introduced the first day of session this year, has yet to be brought to the full House for a vote and received its first subcommittee hearing June 19 \u2013 a date symbolic to African-Americans, as it is said to be the date in 1865 when the last slaves in Galveston, Texas were notified of their freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders\u2019 national campaign co-chair said the candidate\u2019s stances on the issue of marijuana reform should also resonate with Black voters. Turner said Sanders is calling for federal legalization of marijuana and the expungement of records for nonviolent marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re not just going to wait on the passage of HR-40 (the bill on reparations), we\u2019re working on so many other things. And it goes without saying, this country owes a great debt to slaves and their descendants. America would not be the America that it is today without the fruits of free labor of our ancestors who were brought to this country in shackles and chains,\u201d said Turner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the interview Turner said Trump is the \u201cworst president in American history\u201d calling him racist, xenophobic, homophobic and misogynistic \u2013 claims that the candidate also made during his more than hour-long speech inside Williams. She said that\u2019s why it is important for voters \u2013 Blacks voters in particular \u2013 to pay close attention when choosing who will go up against Trump in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSen. Sanders was asked about a month ago in Atlanta, \u2018What are you going to do about white supremacy\u2019 and (Sanders) said, \u2018We\u2019re going to war against white supremacy \u2026 we\u2019re going to war against white supremacy in America,\u201d said Turner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Turner also pointed to Sanders\u2019 staff and commitment to buy advertising with Black media as evidence of the Vermont senator\u2019s devotion to the needs of the African-American community. Sanders\u2019 deputy campaign director, Renee Spellman, is Black, as is his national press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray. This past June Sanders spoke at the National Newspapers Publishers Association (Black Press) annual convention. He was the only presidential candidate to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders\u2019 efforts to attract Black voters will most likely come into play Feb. 29 when the South Carolina primary takes place. The preceding primaries \u2013 Iowa and New Hampshire \u2013 have Black populations of 3.42 percent and 1.4 respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the race to see who will faceoff against President Donald Trump in 2020 (provided he is not impeached in the House and convicted in the Senate) Democratic voters are narrowing down their choices. The still crowded Democratic field lost another contender with Beto O\u2019Rourke dropping out on the first day of this month. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[67,472,2856],"class_list":["post-4628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-world","tag-donald-trump","tag-joe-biden","tag-nina-turner","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Insight-News-Website-Images-24.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4630,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4628\/revisions\/4630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}