The outgoing senator recognizes — more than any other Democrat — the need to renew the party’s commitment to the politics of economic populism.
Democratic Senate candidate U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (R-Ohio) speaks to volunteers at the campaign office on Nov. 4, 2024. in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
(Stephen Maturin/Getty Images)
Long before the political debacle of 2024 forced Democrats to admit they had lost touch with working-class voters, Sherrod Brown was warning the party it was in trouble. As a progressive with a long history of standing on the right side of history when it came to the fight for economic, social and racial justice, as well as issues of war and peace, the Ohio senator has repeatedly told Democrats that they are not focusing hard enough — let enough for himself – for the “dignity of work”.
Brown thought briefly about the creation running for president in 2020 because he believed that realignment towards working-class issues was important for the party and the country. He argued then, as he does now, that Democrats must do more to raise the minimum wage, expand union rights, preserve the pensions of workers who have been screwed over by multinational corporations, and change trade policies to benefit working Americans. not Wall Street speculators.
Brown decided not to run for president. Instead, he stood his ground in Ohio, a once-competitive state that swung heavily Republican after the 2016 election and embraced the MAGA policies of not only Donald Trump, but Trump minions like Ohio Sen. and now Vice President-elect J. .D. Vance. Of all the Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in 2024, Brown and Montana Sen. Jon Tester faced the toughest tests because they campaigned in states where Trump is all but certain to win by wide margins.
In the movie like Mr. Smith is going to Washingtonperhaps such a story could have ended with principled senators overcoming electoral adversity and being re-elected. But 2024 was a disaster for the Democrats.
Both Testor and Brown lost.
Brown took that loss as a function of a dystopian 2024 election season. But he refuses to accept that this is the end of his long struggle for economic democracy. He is already being encouraged to run for Senate again in 2026, when a backlash against Trump’s cynical policies and Trumpism could make Ohio voters much more receptive to Brown’s progressive populism.
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It’s a run Brown needs to make. His voice is needed now more than ever in his party and in the Senate. The energetic 72-year-old has plenty of fighting left, as evidenced by his 2024 campaign against the odds.
Brown mounted a serious race in Ohio. While Trump won the state by a 55-44 margin, Brown held his seat within 3.6 points.
Noting with a hint of pride but more determination that he “beat the national ticket by 7.5 points,” Brown spoke openly about the party’s need to get back to basics when it comes to addressing the economic anxiety of working families.
Brown fought epic battles for three decades in the US House and Senateagainst the North American Free Trade Agreement, against granting China Most Favored Nation status, and against other failed trade deals that have devastated communities in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And throughout his years in office, he has never been afraid to criticize his own party for its growing dependence on corporate campaign money — and the compromises that come with that dependence. Now Brown, as not only a retired senator but also the author of a highly regarded book on trade policy, is amplifying the message.
“I’ve seen the erosion of American jobs, and I’ve seen the shrinking of the middle class,” – explains Brown. “People have to blame someone. And it was the Democrats. We are more guilty of this because we have historically been a party (of workers). They expect Republicans to sell out to their corporate friends and support the rich. But we don’t expect my party — and this is my future in this party — to be focused on helping the Democratic Party and my colleagues understand how important it is that we talk to workers and make decisions with workers at the table.”
Brown did just that in his last Senate speech. It was a passionate statement in which he was outspoken about his record in Congress against the corporate agenda, whether nominated by Republicans or Democrats: “I remember when I was helping to lead the opposition to NAFTA in my first year in Congress, Bill Richardson, a pro-NAFTA Democrat from New -Mexico – complained to me about the break in Congress. He said, “Every time members of Congress go home, my side loses votes.”
“There was a reason for that. We must listen to our constituents.
“Almost every week I spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Ohio.
“I went all over the state—from Ashtabula to Athens, to Akron, to Warren, to Steubenville; from Zanesville to Marietta to Portsmouth to Middletown; from Springfield to Bryan to Delaware to Defiance to Mansfield – holding roundtables and pickets and visiting businesses. Conversation with workers in rest rooms, on workplaces and behind cash registers.
“On Monday afternoon, I return to Washington with a bag of good ideas picked up in Ohio. My job in both the House and the Senate has been to represent these workers—to listen to them, to speak up for them, to fight for them.
“Not Wall Street. Not pharmaceutical companies. Not big railways. Fight for the people who make this country work.”
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Brown made it clear throughout the speech that he was not done fighting. Indeed, he ended by declaring, “This is my last performance of the year. But I promise you, this won’t be the last time you hear from me.
This is one of the most hopeful promises made in the post-election period.
To take back the Senate in 2026, Democrats will need to recruit exceptional candidates. They should start in Ohio, where Sherrod Brown has a promising challenger who is consistently ahead of the party’s national ticket and who, needless to say, the Democrats are only going to take back Congress — and reverse Trump’s agenda — as a truly and aggressively populist party of the working class.
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