Cleveland clergy to Nina Turner campaign: stop the negative ads towards Shontel Brown

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - It’s not even November and the mudslinging is well underway.

The race for Ohio’s 11th congressional district to replace Marcia Fudge is filled with negative ads and big-time accusations.

Democratic candidates Shontel Brown and Nina Turner are running in a special primary election scheduled for August 3.

The seat was vacated after Marcia Fudge left to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President Joe Biden’s administration.

Monday afternoon, about a dozen clergy and community leaders gathered at Mt. Olive Baptist Church to show their support for Shontel Brown. They say Nina Turner’s campaign ads are lies.

“She has never said, I am Shontel Brown and I approve this message. Now if somebody else ran an ad, that’s on them,” said Rev. Marvin A. McMickle, Ph.D of Antioch Baptist Church. “In the church, that’s what we call bear false witness.”

“If you’ve got a record to run on, run on your record, but if you think your record is not enough and you have to revert to the politics of self-destruction then that speaks more to you than your opponent,” he said.

Nina Turner’s Deputy Campaign Manager sent this statement to 19 News after the press conference:

“After Shontel Brown and her out-of-state allies have run weeks of dishonest negative attack ads, Shontel Brown is in no position to complain about truthful ads that raise serious questions about her tenure in office.”

“I hope that what the public will do is discern fact from fiction and judge the tree by the fruit it bears,” said McMickle.

The general election will be held on November 2, 2021.

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