CLEVELAND — As the race for the Democratic nomination comes down to a head to head match up between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speculation has already begun about who each might choose as their running mate.
Online betting sites are beginning to put odds on potential vice presidential picks with one of the names on Bernie Sanders' list of interest to Northeast Ohio as former State Senator Nina Turner popping up as a possibility.
Online sportsbook Bovada had Turner on Thursday listed with odds of +275, meaning you'd win $275 on a $100 bet. That's second only to former Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams at +185. Julian Castro and Tammy Baldwin are at +450, Kamala Harris +600 and Tulsi Gabbard +1100.
There are few people in the Bernie Sanders camp more visible, more in lock step with the Democratic presidential hopeful than Turner who is serving this year as campaign co-chair. Turner, who also served on Cleveland City Council initially was a supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2015.
"My husband said to me one day baby you should listen to him, this is you," Turner told News 5 at the time. She did and was immediately won over becoming instantly not just a supporter in the 2016 but a surrogate on the campaign trail and confidant to Sanders.
"I'm a big fan of Nina," Sanders told News 5 during the 2016 campaign. "I think she is speaking truth to power and not just to the African American community but to all people and she is a fighter and those are the kind of people who we just love to have on board."
"People who support Bernie Sanders and are involved in the campaign know her as one of the primary people that's involved as one of his campaign leaders," said News 5 Political Analyst Dr. Tom Sutton of Baldwin Wallace University. "But at the end of the day I don't think that she's really going to be that viable because of those factors of name recognition, prior experience. She's been a state senator, city councilperson she might face the same kind of challenges as Pete Buttigieg did," he said of the former hopeful's time as mayor of South Bend.
"So if Sanders were to get to the point of picking a running mate I think he'd probably be reaching out to another candidate," he said.
