2018 General Election Elected 53 – 47
A Senator To Defend
What would you expect from the Ohio son of an Ohio doctor? From a man with no ethnic names in his family background? From an Eagle Scout? From an Evangelical Lutheran? From a man who majored in Russian studies at Yale during the cold war (and the hot Vietnam War)? From a man who held political office in Ohio almost continuously (one election loss) immediately after graduation from Yale.
You might expect a Republican — Robert Taft, maybe, son of Ohio’s foremost political family. The man’s first name is his maternal grandfather’s last name. What do you get? Not a Taft. You get Sherrod Brown https://www.sherrodbrown.com/action/who is one of the most liberal members of the Senate.
Sherrod Brown’s only political loss was to Robert Taft. Sherrod Brown is not an upper class liberal. Notwithstanding his upbringing as the son of a doctor, he is a blue collar figure in the US Senate. He had been a state Representative in Ohio and then Secretary of State. After losing the Secretary of State post to Taft, he moved to blue collar Lorain. He ran for the open seat there and was elected to represent Ohio’s 13th Congressional district. After seven terms in the House, in 2006, he ran for the Senate and won.
Sherrod Brown made his mark in the House as an opponent of trade agreements — leading the unsuccessful effort (by a single vote) against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in 2005. He was not a conservative on cultural issues. One of the few to oppose the Defense of Marriage Act, he also opposed an Ohio constitutional amendment to prohibit same sex marriage.
In the Senate, Sherrod Brown continued to oppose trade agreements. He sought to punish China for currency manipulation and export subsidies, citing reports that China’s cheating in the auto parts business put almost two million American jobs at risk. To keep American jobs, he urged the Department of Defense to require that the uniforms for all members of the armed forces be made in the U.S. He criticized the Department of Agriculture for inadequate inspection of meats that came from China. He sought legislation to reduce electronic waste and to reduce the number of counterfeit electronic items coming from overseas — he thought largely from China. He participated in proposing legislation that would have demanded democracy in Hong Kong. You could almost hear him complain about America’s bad deals with China.
Sherrod Brown has urged restoration of the Glass-Steagall rules, a step that would force major banks to choose to be either investment banks or commercial banks. He sought priority enrollment in colleges for veterans, priority for federal jobs for parents of servicemen and women, and protection of the financial credit of those who were serving overseas. Though he eventually apologized, he likened those who opposed unions in the US to those who opposed unions overseas — Stalin, Hitler, Mubarak, and others like them.
Sherrod Brown took blue collar positions while retaining a commitment to thinking broadly about cultural issues. He continued his support for gays and lesbians and his support for women’s issues.His voice that makes Sherrod Brown a blue collar guy. Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said he must have been hit in the throat by a hockey puck. One newspaper reported on Sherrod Brown’s visit to a union hall — Oh, that voice,” said Jose Arroyo, a third-generation steelworker, as it reverberated through the union hall. “I love that voice.” The newspaper added: Brown doesn’t know how he ended up sounding that way. It wasn’t from smoking or drinking, he says maybe all those years of yelling at the Cleveland Indians on TV. His laryngologist routinely sticks some awful thing down his throat but hasn’t found anything wrong with him yet. Politically speaking, the newspaper says, it’s his voice that’s keeping him healthy.
What he knows and where he feels comfortable make Sherrod Brown a blue collar guy. The news report continues: “When he talks to you,” said Union Rep Arroyo “he knows the language. He sounds like a working man.” SherrodBrown is comfortable in union halls. Al Franken explained: He’s fluent in pension plans, overtime work rules and what he calls the “myths” of free trade. Sherrod Brown’s voice and knowledge helped him carry Trumbull County with 63 percent of the vote in 2012 — a county Trump carried in 2016.
Sherrod Brown says: People ask him how he is going to win back the Trump voters. Sherrod Brown answers. “I don’t think I’ve ever lost them.” He is up for election in 2018 and will need to keep those Trump voters with him if he is going to win. His emails tell us that polls show him behind the Republican most likely to win his primary and oppose him. Give him the resources he needs in win in 2018.
Ohio’s Sherrod Brownhttps://www.sherrodbrown.com/action/ is one of our endangered Democratic Senator and needs our help. Monthly donations would be a great way to provide that help. The candidate can count on a regular amount, even if it is a small amount, every month until the election — fifteen months.
