With about 100 days left before the November election — and with political attention elsewhere more or less 100 percent focused — supporters of Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown were trying to get back into the swing of things in a race that could be crucial to determining control of the U.S. Senate. Labor, veterans and black leaders praised Brown for standing with their interests throughout his career while criticizing his Republican rival, Bernie Moreno.
At the same time, Moreno’s camp wants to exploit Brown’s story for its own purposes. After linking Brown to Biden as “failed, lifelong politicians” in an RNC speech, the campaign quickly pivoted to link Brown to Harris. fresh ad He criticizes the senator and vice president for U.S. border policy and ends with a video of Brown wearing a Golden State Warriors jersey.
In 2017, Brown bet Harris that the Cleveland Cavaliers would beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals, just as he did with her predecessor, Senator Barbara Boxer, in 2015 and 2016. Brown was 1-2 in those bets.
Fans throw the ball
Not surprisingly, many of Brown’s supporters came from organized labor. Representatives from the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, and Ohio Federation of Teachers all sang his praises.
The AFL-CIO’s Tim Burga noted Brown’s support for paid family leave, an expansion of the child tax credit and the PRO Act, which protects workers’ right to organize in the workplace.
“Sherrod is one of the few elected officials who not only talks, but listens and then acts,” Burga said. “We never have to wonder where Sherrod stands. He always stands with the workers of Ohio.”
SEIU’s Lynn Radcliffe specifically highlighted Brown’s accomplishments on behalf of women in the workplace.
“She knows that Ohio women are not looking for a handout, but are demanding equal opportunity, including equal pay, paid family leave and a path to the middle class,” she said. “Ohio workers, including women giving birth. Labor has no better champion than Sherrod Brown.”
Melissa Cropper of the Ohio Federation of Teachers praised Brown for supporting legislation to ensure that teachers and other public employees can receive full Social Security benefits. Rep. Phil Robinson, D-Solon, cited the senator’s support for My Brother’s Keeper, a mentoring program for adolescent men of color.
Retired Air Force veteran Melissa Rodriguez highlighted Brown’s efforts to establish a Space Force headquarters at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
“Veterans across the state know that Sherrod is taking action to meet our needs,” Rodriguez said. “And when Sherrod learned of the devastating effects of toxic burn pits on Ohio veterans, he stepped in and passed bipartisan legislation to ensure veterans have access to the health care and benefits they deserve.”
The dynamics of the presidential campaign
Even as Brown’s supporters try to refocus attention on Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, it’s tough to deny that the presidential election is sucking up the oxygen. One party made a last-minute change at the top of its ticket, and another picked another U.S. senator from Ohio as its vice presidential candidate.
And that’s just in the last two weeks.
As U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio, gathered at his former high school in Middletown, Ohio, on Monday, Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou said that Vance’s presence on the presidential ticket was nothing but good news for Bernie Moreno.
“As we travel around the state, Ohioans talk about the many, many reasons to elect Donald Trump and the Republicans, and J.D. Vance is just amplifying that,” he said. “I think that will help with turnout.”
Referring to voters in Appalachian Ohio, he added: “I think it will also help that key electorate in the eastern part of the state that we need to make sure Bernie Moreno gets to the finish line.”
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Moreno Reagan McCarthy campaign said Ohio has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs since Brown took office in Washington.
“Sherrod continues to promote job-killing electric vehicle mandates and wage-busting open border policies,” she added. “Sherrod can pretend to be nonpartisan, but he votes with the Biden-Harris administration almost 100% of the time. Ohioans will send him home in November.”
Brown’s supporters, meanwhile, have skipped the presidential race entirely. Burga noted that they are “focused like a laser” on the Senate race.
“In the labor movement, your word is your bond,” he said. “And Bernie Moreno, his word is no good.”
“We’re really concerned about Bernie Moreno’s record,” he continued, “and what he’s going to do to organized labor, what he’s going to do to trade, what he’s going to do to the NLRB — all of those things that Sherrod Brown has a proven record on.”
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