CLEVELAND -- The status quo has never been Nina Turner's friend.

Her willingness to take political risks is a matter of record.

And that's what makes Turner's job so fitting - president of Our Revolution, a group whose name alone resembles her career.

Our Revolution is the 200,000-donor-strong, grass-roots organization created by Bernie Sanders in the wake of his 2016 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Like its millions of loyalists, Our Revolution is unwavering in its commitment to progressive values and ideas.

True to form, in 2016, Turner bucked black political leadership by signing on with the Sanders campaign. Late last month she was one of a handful of supporters who met with the 76-year-old Vermont senator and his wife to discuss a possible presidential reprise in 2020.

On any given day, Turner's cellphone rings at an airport in (fill in the blank), at her office in Washington or traveling the country with Sanders, railing against the tax reform bill as a law designed by the rich, for the rich.

For now, Turner is on a leave of absence from her hometown. But she'll be back.

"I'm not gone gone," she said. "My heart is still at home. Cleveland has been my life."

And it's the place where Nina Turner's enemies made her a star.

It began in 2009, when a group of public-spirited citizens convinced voters to blow up Cuyahoga County government and replace it with an altogether new model.

Turner's support for the reform movement (Issue 6) earned her scorn and vilification from Cleveland black political establishment.

Instead of joining the chorus of prominent Democrats and black leaders who invented false excuses to oppose Issue 6 (Republicans supported it), Turner opted instead to do the right thing.

For that, the then-new state senator and former councilwoman from Cleveland's southeast side was depicted as an Aunt Jemima in the Call & Post, denounced from the pulpit in more than a few black churches.

On Election Day, voters of every color and in every Cuyahoga County community supported Issue 6.

Three years later, Turner, a state senator at the time, again took a stand, angering teacher union officials with her vocal support for Mayor Frank Jackson's reform plan for Cleveland schools. That stance put Turner on the short list of liberal Democrats who don't accede to organized labor's every whim.

Turner's great strength is her ability to motivate and connect with voters. And that's why four of the Democrats who have spent time as candidates for Ohio governor this year inquired about her availability as a lieutenant governor running mate. At least two offered Turner a spot on their ticket, which she declined.

For now, Turner's work is in Washington. She wants Sanders to run again for president. But she acknowledges the possibility of a 2021 run for mayor of Cleveland.

"I'm not ruling anything out," she said. "At some point, I will have to make a decision on coming back home. But right now, I'm on a mission."

Universal health care is part of that mission. So is beating President Donald Trump in 2020.

A mid-January poll by CNN showed Sanders leading Trump by 13 percentage points in a theoretical matchup. Former Vice President Joe Biden led Trump by 17 percent and Oprah Winfrey beat him by 9 percent.

Not everyone back home will toss Turner a "welcome back" party. Many black Democrats don't like her style. Others undoubtedly resent the positive attention. Rumors about closeted skeletons have taken on a life of their own.

There have also been small stumbles.

Turner tried unsuccessfully to prevent C. Ellen Connally from becoming president of the new Cuyahoga County Council. She launched, then abandoned, a bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights from Congress. And she got beaten badly by Jon Husted in the 2014 election for secretary of state.

But Turner has always bounced back. And unless Sanders is president, she will almost certainly join the crowded, most likely combative, 2021 campaign for mayor.

Turner would be far from a sure thing. But she has a huge fan in the Rev. Jawanza Karriem Colvin, pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, perhaps Cleveland's most historic and influential place of worship.

"Nina is one of the most powerful and courageous voices in the progressive movement," said Colvin. "When you hear her speak, you hear the heart of a person who understands the struggles of marginalized people. You also hear someone who also has an eye towards the future of a country where all people are included and we are able to fulfill our country's highest possibilities.

"To me, Nina represents the best and the brightest of what this city has produced at this current moment."

Brent Larkin was The Plain Dealer's editorial director from 1991 until his retirement in 2009.

To reach Brent Larkin: blarkin@cleveland.com

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