President Biden on Friday released a statement endorsing Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) over more progressive candidate Nina Turner in the Ohio congressional race.
“Shontel Brown has been an ardent advocate for the people of Ohio and a true partner in Congress. We need leaders like Shontel to help continue the fight to respond to this pandemic, lower costs for working families, and rebuild the middle class,” Biden wrote. “Shontel is committed to building a better America. I am proud to endorse Shontel Brown for Ohio’s 11th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Shontel and Turner are in a hotly contested race, with both Democrats raising more than $600,000 in the first quarter of 2022.
“I am thankful for the support of @JoeBiden. From day one, I promised to work with the President and his administration to deliver for the people of Northeast Ohio and bring economic relief and quality health care to all Americans,” Brown wrote in response to Biden’s endorsement.
Biden’s endorsement of Brown comes after Turner told The Atlantic back in 2020 that voting for Biden was like eating a “bowl of shit.”
“It’s like saying to somebody, ‘You have a bowl of shit in front of you, and all you’ve got to do is eat half of it instead of the whole thing.’ It’s still shit,” Turner, who was co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign at the time, told The Atlantic.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) has also endorsed Brown.
“Shontel made it very clear that she was a Joe Biden supporter,” he told The Hill on Friday. “And her opponent made it very clear that she was a Joe Biden opponent.”
Clyburn is expected to stump for Brown in Ohio over the weekend, including a Saturday night event and church appearances on Sunday.
This is the second time Turner and Brown have faced each other in an election, with Brown beating Turner in a special election for Ohio’s 11th District in 2021.
Hanna Trudo contributed to this report.