Biden Vs Bernie…again, in a different vein

Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden on stage for the Democratic presidential primary debate at the Charleston Gaillard Center on February 25, 2020

Could Ohio’s 11th congressional district be the bellwether of Democratic politics? On August 3, Shontel Brown, a local chair of the Democratic Party in Ohio’s 11th, won the Democratic primary. She defeated several opponents, including Nina Turner. Ms Brown was the favourite of the party’s establishment. Ms Turner is a former operative for Bernie Sanders and was championed by the left.

What Ohio’s 11th seems to show is that it pays to tack to the centre. And that there’s still great strength in the mantra once intoned by Tony Blair for British politics: the centre ground of politics is where elections are won or lost. Generally.

Ohio’s 11th district, which is strongly Democratic, voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. But its voters, as Ms Brown’s victory shows, are not on the liberal side of the Democratic Party. And this is not peculiar to Ohio’s 11…