Nina Turner is a left-of-center activist and Democratic politician, who formerly served as a member of the Ohio State Senate. She is a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School. She is the host of “Unbossed,” a political commentary show hosted by the Young Turks on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. Formerly she worked as the president of Our Revolution.

Turner supported the presidential candidacies of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and advocates for left-of-center policies like government-paid college tuition and a $25 minimum wage. ^{1 2}

Background

Turner has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Cleveland State University. She has worked intermittently at Cuyahoga Community College since 1998, first as an adjunct and then as an assistant professor of history. Her research and teaching interests include “Race, Class, and Gender Inequalities,” “Education and Social Justice,” “Race, Crime and the Justice System,” and “Voting Rights.” ³

Political Career

From 2006 to 2008, Turner served as a Councilwoman on the Cleveland City Council for Ward 1. ⁴

Turner was a State Senator representing Ohio’s 25^th District from 2008 to 2015 as a Democrat. ⁵ In this role, Turner focused on securing abortion access, working with labor unions and forces of organized labor to advance collective bargaining powers, and pursuing an agenda of increased leniency in criminal justice. She led an effort to create the state of Ohio’s first “task force on police and community relations.” ⁶

She served as the chair of party engagement for the Ohio Democratic Party. ⁷ She helped the Party refine its organizational methods to help left-of-center candidates in races around Ohio. ⁸

In 2014, Turner ran for Ohio Secretary of State and won the Democratic nomination. She subsequently lost to Republican incumbent Jon Husted. ⁹

Nina Turner was a national surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (D-VT) 2016 presidential campaign and national co-chair for Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign. ^{10 11} She toured the United States promoting a $15 minimum wage, “free education from kindergarten through college,” and “health care as a human right in the form of Medicare for All.” During this time, Turner also worked as the president of the Sanders-aligned 501(c)(4) advocacy organization Our Revolution. ¹²

Turner ran for Congress in a 2021 special election and the 2022 midterm election. She lost both Democratic nomination campaigns to Shontel Brown, who was backed by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), an ally of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party establishment. Turner was aided by Our Revolution, which sent 150 volunteers to help Turner’s campaign. ¹³

Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy

Turner is a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School, a liberal arts university in New York City. ¹⁴ The Institute conducts academic work and research but also aims to connect its research with “community organizations, policymakers, workers groups, business leaders, philanthropists, journalists and activists.” It promotes a view that “identity groups” like “Black people and other people of color,” “women,” “immigrants,” “indigenous peoples,” and others are suffering from “social stratification,” and that “society offers less wealth, more discrimination, more violence, worst healthcare, fewer protections, and less economic, cultural, and political power” to these groups. ¹⁵

The Institute is partnered with and has received funding from the Bank of America, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Deutsch Bank Americas Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, the Kresge Foundation, the Omidyar Network, Polk Brothers Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Robin Hood, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. ¹⁶

The Young Turks

Turner is the host of “Unbossed,” a political commentary show hosted by the Young Turks on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. The show’s official description refers to Turner as a “progressive firebrand and hell-raising humanitarian” who “unites real, everyday Americans to take on the corrupt forces that seek to keep the power from the people.” ¹⁷

1. “About.” NinaTurner.com. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ninaturner.com/about/.
2. Nina Turner. Twitter, September 24, 2022. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://twitter.com/ninaturner/status/1573754874948456453.
3. “Nina Turner – Resume.” Sanders Institute, March 2020. Accessed October 8, 2022. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200307163259/https://www.sandersinstitute.com/imo/media/doc/Nina_Turner_resume.pdf.
4. “Nina Turner – Resume.” Sanders Institute, March 2020. Accessed October 8, 2022. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200307163259/https://www.sandersinstitute.com/imo/media/doc/Nina_Turner_resume.pdf.
5. “Nina Turner (Ohio).” Ballotpedia. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ballotpedia.org/Nina_Turner_(Ohio).
6. “About.” NinaTurner.com. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ninaturner.com/about/.
7. “Nina Turner (Ohio).” Ballotpedia. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ballotpedia.org/Nina_Turner_(Ohio).
8. “About.” NinaTurner.com. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ninaturner.com/about/.
9. “Nina Turner (Ohio).” Ballotpedia. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ballotpedia.org/Nina_Turner_(Ohio).
10. Weissert, Will, and Smyth, Julie Carr. “Brown, backed by Democratic Party moderate establishment, wins Ohio rematch with progressive activist Turner.” Associated Press via PBS, May 3, 2022. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/brown-backed-by-democratic-party-moderate-establishment-wins-ohio-rematch-with-progressive-activist-turner.
11. “About.” NinaTurner.com. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ninaturner.com/about/.
12. “About.” NinaTurner.com. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://ninaturner.com/about/.
13. Weissert, Will, and Smyth, Julie Carr. “Brown, backed by Democratic Party moderate establishment, wins Ohio rematch with progressive activist Turner.” Associated Press via PBS, May 3, 2022. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/brown-backed-by-democratic-party-moderate-establishment-wins-ohio-rematch-with-progressive-activist-turner.
14. “Our Team.” NewSchool.edu. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.newschool.edu/institute-race-power-political-economy/our-team/.
15. ^[1] “Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy.” Newschool.edu. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.newschool.edu/institute-race-power-political-economy/.
16. “Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy.” Newschool.edu. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.newschool.edu/institute-race-power-political-economy/.
17. “Starting October 17^th – TYT Unbossed with Nina Turner.” The Young Turks. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://join.tyt.com/unbossed/. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20221008170835/https://join.tyt.com/unbossed/.