Sherrod Brown | |||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Official portrait, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| United States Senator fromOhio | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mike DeWine | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bernie Moreno | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's13th district | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Don Pease | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Betty Sutton | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 46thSecretary of State of Ohio | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 12, 1983 – January 14, 1991 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Governor | Dick Celeste | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bob Taft | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theOhio House of Representatives from the 61st district | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1983 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Joan Douglass | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Frank Sawyer | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Sherrod Campbell Brown (1952-11-09)November 9, 1952 (age 73) Mansfield, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Charlie Brown (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Yale University (BA) Ohio State University (MA,MPA) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Campaign website | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sherrod Campbell Brown (/ˈʃɛrəd/SHERR-əd; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician who served from 2007 to 2025 as aUnited States senator fromOhio. A member of theDemocratic Party, he was theU.S. representative forOhio's 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007 and the 47thsecretary of state of Ohio from 1983 to 1991. He started his political career in 1975 as astate representative. Brown is widely regarded within the Democratic Party as aleft-wing populist figure.[1][2][3] He is the most recent Democrat to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate.
A native ofMansfield, Ohio, Brown graduated fromYale University andOhio State University. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in2006, defeating two-termRepublican incumbentMike DeWine. He was reelected in2012 and2018. Throughout his tenure, Brown chaired the Senate Committee onBanking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and served on the Committees onFinance,Veterans' Affairs, andEthics.
Brown ran for reelection to a fourth term in2024, but was defeated byRepublican nominee and businessmanBernie Moreno.[4] In August 2025, Brown announced he would be a candidate in the2026 United States Senate special election in Ohio.[5]
Sherrod Brown was born inMansfield, Ohio, on November 9, 1952, the son of Emily (née Campbell) and Charles Gailey Brown, M.D.[6] He has Scottish, Irish, German, and English ancestry, and was named after his maternal grandfather. He is one of three brothers.[6] Brown's brother,Charlie, served asAttorney General of West Virginia from 1985 to 1989.[7] Brown's other brother, Robert, was an attorney and graduate ofHarvard Law School.[8] Brown became anEagle Scout in 1967; his badge was presented byJohn Glenn.[9] In 1970, he graduated fromMansfield Senior High School.[9]
In 1974, Brown received aBachelor of Arts degree inRussian studies fromYale University.[10][11] While at Yale, he lived inDavenport College,[12] and he campaigned forGeorge McGovern during the1972 presidential election.[13] He went on to receive aMaster of Arts degree ineducation and aMaster of Public Administration degree from theOhio State University atColumbus in 1979 and 1981, respectively.[11] He taught at Ohio State University's Mansfield branch campus from 1979 to 1981.[14]
During his senior year in college, Brown was recruited by a local Democratic leader to run forOhio's state house.[13] Brown served as a state representative in Ohio from 1974 to 1982. At the time of his election to the Ohio House, he was the youngest person elected to that body.[15] In 1982 Brown ran forOhio secretary of state to succeedAnthony J. Celebrezze Jr. He won a four-way Democratic primary that includedDennis Kucinich, and then defeatedRepublican Virgil Brown in the general election. In 1986 Brown was reelected, defeating Vincent C. Campanella. As Secretary of State, Brown focused on voter registration outreach.[13] In 1990 he lost reelection in a heated campaign against RepublicanBob Taft, the futuregovernor of Ohio and great-grandson of PresidentWilliam Howard Taft.
In 1992, Brown moved from Mansfield toLorain, Ohio, and won a heavily contested Democratic primary for the open seat forOhio's 13th district, in the western and southern suburbs ofCleveland, after eight-term incumbentDon Pease announced his retirement. The Democratic-leaning district gave him an easy win over the little-known Republican Margaret R. Mueller. He was reelected six times.[16]
The Democrats lost their long-held House majority in the 1994 elections, and stayed in the minority for the remainder of Brown's tenure. Asranking member of the Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee, Brown successfully advocated for increased funding to fighttuberculosis.[13]
In 2005, Brown led the Democratic effort to block theCentral American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). For many months, Brown worked aswhip on the issue, securing Democratic "nay" votes and seeking Republican allies. After several delays, the House of Representatives finally voted on CAFTA after midnight on July 28, passing it by one vote.[17]
Brown opposed an amendment toOhio's constitution that bannedsame-sex marriage.[18] He was also one of the few U.S. representatives to vote against theDefense of Marriage Act in 1996.[19]
Brown was the ranking minority member on theHouse Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee. He also served on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. While serving on theHouse International Relations Committee, he was also a member of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.[20]
In August 2005, Brown announced he would not run for theUnited States Senate seat held by two-term RepublicanincumbentMike DeWine,[21] but in October he reconsidered his decision.[22] His announcement came shortly after DemocratPaul Hackett stated that he would soon announce his candidacy. In February 2006, Hackett withdrew from the race, all but ensuring that Brown would win the Democratic nomination. In the May primary Brown won 78.05% of the Democratic vote. His opponent,Merrill Samuel Keiser Jr., received 21.95%.[23]
In April 2006, Brown, along withJohn Conyers, brought an action againstGeorge W. Bush and others, alleging violations of theConstitution in the passage of theDeficit Reduction Act of 2005.[24] The case,Conyers v. Bush, was ultimately dismissed for lack ofstanding.[25]
On November 7, 2006, Brown defeated DeWine, 56.2% to 43.8%.[26]
Brown ran for reelection in 2012, facing opponentJosh Mandel, who in 2010 defeated the incumbent state treasurer by 14 points. Mandel raised $2.3 million in the second quarter of 2011 alone, to Brown's $1.5 million.[27] Early on Brown enjoyed a steady lead in the polls.[28] Mandel won the March Republican primary with 63% of the vote.[29]
The Washington Post reported that no candidate running for reelection (saveBarack Obama) faced more opposition from outside groups in 2012 than Brown did. By April 2012, $5.1 million had been spent on television ads opposing him, according to data provided by a Senate Democratic campaign operative. TheUnited States Chamber of Commerce spent $2.7 million.60 Plus Association, a conservative group that opposes health care reform, spent another $1.4 million.Karl Rove'sCrossroads GPS and theConcerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee also spent heavily in the race.[30] In May 2012, Brown campaigned withThe West Wing actorMartin Sheen.[31]
On November 6, 2012, Brown held his seat, winning 50.7% of the vote to Mandel's 44.7%. Independent candidate Scott Rupert received 4.6% of the vote.[32]
In 2018 Brown was reelected to a third Senate term, defeating RepublicanU.S. representativeJim Renacci 53.4% to 46.6%.[33]
In 2024, Brown ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and in the general election faced the Republican nominee, businessmanBernie Moreno. Brown lost by 206,434 votes and earned 46.5% of the vote, to Moreno's 50.1%. Moreno's victory contributed to a Republican Senate majority in the119th United States Congress.[34]
In August 2025, Brown announced his campaign for Ohio's Class III Senate seat in the 2026 special election to finish the term of Vice PresidentJD Vance.[5]
Brown is a staunch critic offree trade and has takenprogressive stances on financial issues. He has pushed for the Democratic Party to adopt a morepopulist approach, focusing on issues affectingworking-class Americans.[3] He was appointed co-chair of theJoint Multiemployer Pension Solvency Committee in 2018.[35]
At the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic, Brown proposed a bill that would let workers immediately receivepaid sick days, allowing them to stay home and self-quarantine if feeling sick or in the event of any public health emergency.[36] Brown argued this would help slow the spread of the virus in workplaces.[37] He criticized Republicans for blocking the proposal but thought that the House would pass similar measures.[38]
After PresidentDonald Trump wasimpeachedin December 2019, Brown voted to remove him from office.[39] Duringthe January 2020 impeachment trial, he supported Republicans bringing witnesses to testify, so long as testimony from witnesses such asNational Security AdvisorJohn Bolton was also allowed.[40]
Brown pushed for legislation in 2020 that would require theEPA to more strictly regulateperfluoroalkyl andpolyfluoroalkyl substances.[40] He and other Democrats voted also to block two pieces ofanti-abortion legislation.[42]
Brown pushedDefense SecretaryLloyd Austin in 2021 to establish theNational Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence in Ohio.[43]
He called in July 2024 forJoe Biden to withdraw from the2024 United States presidential election.[44]
Since his defeat in the2024 United States Senate election in Ohio and the end of his tenure as Senator, Brown has returned to civilian life. In his farewell speech, he promised to remain active in public life, and stated his departure was "not [...] the last time you will hear from me."[47]
In January 2025,Harvard Kennedy School announced that Brown would be a Spring 2025 Visiting Fellow,[48] and in March 2025, he launched the Dignity of Work Institute. Brown wrote an op-ed inThe New Republic in March 2025, claiming that "Democrats Must Become the Workers' Party Again"[49][50] and a guest essay inThe New York Times entitled "What Worries Me Most About Trump’s Failing Economy" in April.[51]
On August 12, 2025, it was reported that Brown would run in the2026 United States Senate special election in Ohio, likely challenging Republican incumbentJon Husted.[52] He officially announced his candidacy on August 18, 2025.[53][54]
Despite being one ofVermont senatorBernie Sanders's closest allies in the U.S. Senate, Brown nevertheless endorsed former secretary of stateHillary Clinton and campaigned for her in the2016 Democratic presidential primary in Ohio.[55] He was vetted as a potentialvice-presidentialrunning mate for Clinton. The choice came down to Brown andVirginia senatorTim Kaine, who was ultimately selected.[56] Brown had the distinct disadvantage that had Clinton won, Ohio's Republican governorJohn Kasich would have chosen Brown's replacement in the Senate, whereas Kaine's replacement would be chosen by Democrat and Clinton ally Virginia governorTerry McAuliffe.[57]
TheWashington Monthly suggested in 2017 that Brown could unite the establishment and progressive wings of the Democratic Party as apresidential candidate in 2020.[2]Cleveland.com reported in 2018 that he was "seriously" considering a presidential run.[58] After winning his third Senate term in the2018 election, he was considered a potential candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and began exploring a run in January 2019.[59] He announced in March that he would not run for president and would instead remain a senator.[60] During the 2016 campaign season, he also said he had no interest in being vice president.[61]
In the 2011National Journal's annual rankings, Brown tied with eight other members for the title of the mostliberal member of Congress.[62] According toFiveThirtyEight, he voted with PresidentDonald Trump's position on Congressional issues 25.8% of the time.[63] During the117th Congress, he voted with PresidentJoe Biden's stated position 98% of the time.[64]
In a 2017 issue ofDissent,Michael Kazin introduced an interview with Brown by praising him as "a politician ahead of his time" and "perhaps the most class-conscious Democrat in Washington." Brown told Kazin that many Ohioans think "people on the coasts look down on them" and blamed this notion onFox News andThe Wall Street Journal.[65]
Brown introduced the Charter School Accountability Act of 2015. The bill did not make it out of committee.[66][67]
He praisedWest Virginia teachers who held anine-day strike in early 2018.[68]
Brown co-sponsored the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act in 2012,[69] a bill that would prohibit the export of some electronics for environmental reasons.[70]
In the wake of theFlint water crisis, Brown announced plans to introduce legislation to force the federal government to step in when cities and states fail to warn residents aboutlead-contaminated drinking water. He called for the federal government to give Ohio'sschool districts money to test for lead in drinking water.[71][72]
Brown supported theAffordable Care Act, voting for it in 2009,[73] and he voted for theHealth Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.[74]
Brown co-sponsored the single-payerExpanded and Improved Medicare for All Act in 2006.[75] He did not co-sponsor SenatorBernie Sanders's single-payer health plan, despite saying he has "always been supportive" of such a system. Brown said he was supporting his own plan, which would allow people 55 and older tobuy intoMedicare.[76][77]
Brown was one of six Democratic senators to introduce the American Miners Act of 2019, a bill to amend theSurface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to swap funds in excess of the amount needed to meet existing obligations under the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the 1974 Pension Plan as part of an effort to prevent its insolvency as a result of coal company bankruptcies and the2008 financial crisis. It also increased theBlack Lung Disability Trust Fund tax and ensured that miners affected by the 2018 coal company bankruptcies would not lose their health insurance.[78]
In July 2023, Brown was one of a group of Democratic senators to introduce the Stop Predatory Investing Act to ban corporate investors that buy up more than 50 single-family homes from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties.[79]
Brown voted against prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children in Washington, D.C., He received a 100% score from theHuman Rights Campaign in 2005–2006, indicating a pro-gay rights stance.[80][81] He voted in favor of theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.[82][83]
Brown was one of 20 senators to sign a letter to Secretary of StateMike Pompeo in 2018 urging him to reverse the rolling back of a policy that granted visas to same-sex partners of LGBTQ diplomats who had unions that were not recognized by their home countries, writing that too many places around the world have seen LGBTQ individuals "subjected to discrimination and unspeakable violence, and receive little or no protection from the law or local authorities" and that refusing to let LGBTQ diplomats bring their partners to the US would be equivalent of upholding "the discriminatory policies of many countries around the world."[84]
In 2022, Brown voted for theRespect for Marriage Act, a piece of which codifiedsame-sex marriage rights into federal law.[85]
Brown sponsored theGold Star Fathers Act of 2014, a bill that would expand preferred eligibility for federal jobs to the fathers of certain permanently disabled or deceased veterans.[86][87]
Brown and RepresentativeTim Ryan introduced legislation in 2015 that would give military veterans priority in scheduling classes in colleges, universities, and other post-secondary education programs.[88]
After the leak of thePanama Papers in 2016, Brown andElizabeth Warren urged theTreasury Department to investigate whether U.S. citizens were involved in possible tax avoidance and misconduct associated with the Panama-based law firmMossack Fonseca.[89]
Brown became the chair of theBanking Subcommittee on Economic Policy in 2021, after having been itsranking Democratic member since 2015. In April of that year, he initiated an inquiry into "the implosion ofArchegos Capital", an investment firm that lost billions of dollars amid accusations of fraud andinsider trading.[90]
Brown has sponsored legislation to require corporatepolitical action committees to disclose their donors.[91] When he was consideringrunning for president in 2020, he pledged not to take donations from corporate PACs.[92] He received $10.4 million in PAC money from 1997 to 2018.[93] After not running for president, his Senate campaign committee and leadership PAC raised $1 million in corporate PAC donations.[94] Some of the corporate PAC money Brown received came from health insurance and pharmaceutical companies that the state of Ohio sued for illegally driving up drug prices.[95]
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Brown's opposition to the2017 tax bill led to what was described as a "shouting match" with SenatorOrrin Hatch, who accused Brown of "spouting off" to the effect that the tax bill benefited the rich.[96]
Vice PresidentMike Pence criticized Brown for his 2018 vote against the Republican tax bill (theTCJA).[96] Brown argued the bill overwhelmingly benefited wealthy individuals and corporations, with a much smaller impact on the middle class.[97]
Brown voted for theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[98]
Brown has criticizedfree trade with China and other countries. In a 2006Washington Post article, he argued against free trade on the grounds that labor activism was responsible for the growth of the U.S. middle class, and that the U.S. economy is harmed by trade relations with countries that lack the kind of labor regulations that have resulted from that activism.[99]
TheColumbus Dispatch wrote in 2011 that Brown "loves to rail against international trade agreements".[100] In his bookMyths of Free Trade, Brown writes, "an unregulated global economy is a threat to all of us"[101] and recommends measures that would allow for emergency tariffs, protectBuy America laws, including those that give preference to minority and women-owned businesses, and hold foreign producers to American labor and environmental standards.[102] Brown co-authored and sponsored a bill that would officiallydeclare China a currency manipulator and require theDepartment of Commerce to imposecountervailing duties on Chinese imports.[103][104]
Brown called for tariffs to be imposed on imports from China in 2016 and praisedHillary Clinton's plan to enforce rules and trade laws and triple the enforcement budgets at the United States Department of Commerce and theInternational Trade Commission.[105]
Brown opposesNAFTA, which he argues should be renegotiated to aid Ohio workers.[106][81] He supported President Trump's decision in 2018 to impose tariffs on washing machine imports.[107] He supported his first trade agreement in 2019, having never previously supported one in Congress. He voted against theNorth American Free Trade Agreement because he said it would send Ohioan jobs to Mexico, but supported a new trade agreement for the U.S., Mexico, and Canada after a "step toward a pro-worker trade policy, but it's not a perfect agreement".[108]
Pressure from Brown and other congressional Democrats in 2023 led theBiden administration to abandon plans for theIndo-Pacific Economic Framework's trade component.[109][110]
Brown opposed theIraq War and voted against theIraq Resolution as a House Representative.[111] He voted against the $87-billion war budgetary supplement and for redeploying U.S. troops out of Iraq by March 2008.[112] Brown voted for theSupplemental Appropriations Act, 2008, which appropriated $250 billion for ongoing military operations and domestic programs.[113]
Brown voted in 2010 for the ratification ofNew START,[114] a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and theRussian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads and 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years, and providing for a continuation of on-site inspections that halted whenSTART I expired the previous year. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years.[115]
Brown co-sponsored reaffirmations of theTaiwan Relations Act and theSix Assurances in regard toUnited States-Taiwan relations.[116][117][118][119] Weeks after the2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign andUmbrella Movement broke out, demandinggenuine universal suffrage among other goals, Brown (the chair of theCongressional-Executive Commission on China); co-chairChris Smith; U.S. SenatorsBen Cardin;Marco Rubio;Roger Wicker;Dianne Feinstein; andJeff Merkley; and U.S. RepresentativesNancy Pelosi,Dan Lipinski, andFrank Wolf introduced theHong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would update theUnited States–Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 and U.S. commitment todemocratic development in Hong Kong.[120][121][122][123]
Brown co-sponsored an amendment to the budget in 2015 that was unanimously approved by the Senate and that would reimpose sanctions on Iran if Iran violated the terms of the interim or final agreement by advancing its nuclear program.[124]
In advance of theUN Security Council resolution 2334 of 2016 condemningIsraeli settlements in the occupiedPalestinian territories, Brown signed anAIPAC-sponsored letter urging President Obama to veto "one-sided" resolutions against Israel.[125] He voted against a controversialIsrael Anti-Boycott Act initiated by Republicans in 2019[126] that would allow states to prohibit government agencies from contracting with organizations involved in theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.[127]
Brown criticized U.S. support forSaudi Arabia'smilitary campaign in Yemen in 2017, saying, "It's becoming increasingly clear that Saudi Arabia has been deliberately targeting civilian targets. And that's absolutely unacceptable".[128] He voted that same year for theCountering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which placedsanctions on Iran,Russia, andNorth Korea.[129] Brown,Bob Menendez, andMark Warner wrote to theinspectors general of the State Department, Treasury Department, and intelligence community in 2018 that the Trump administration failed to fully comply with the provisions of theCAATSA and requested an investigation.[130] He condemned that year thegenocide of theRohingya Muslim minority inMyanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.[131]
Brown was one of 12 senators to sign a letter to Trump in 2018 urging him not to withdraw from theIran nuclear deal on the grounds that "Iran could either remain in the agreement and seek to isolate the United States from our closest partners, or resume its nuclear activities" if the U.S. pulled out and that both possibilities "would be detrimental to our national security interests."[132] He and 16 other members of Congress urged that year the U.S. to impose sanctions under theGlobal Magnitsky Act against Chinese officials responsible forhuman rights abuses against theUyghurMuslim minority in western China'sXinjiang region.[133]
AfterJuan Guaidó was declared interimpresident of Venezuela by theNational Assembly in 2019, Brown said the U.S. should "work with our allies and use economic, political and diplomatic leverage to help bring about free and fair elections, limit escalating tension, and ensure the safety of Americans on the ground", and called the Trump administration's suggestions of military intervention "reckless and irresponsible".[134]
In 2024, Brown urged the Biden administration torecognize a "nonmilitarized"Palestinian state after the end of theGaza war.[135]
Brown has criticized the political influence of gun manufacturers.[136]
He called the Republican legislature in Ohio "lunatics" for introducing aconcealed carry bill that would allow people to carry guns into airplane terminals (before security), police buildings, private airplanes, and day-care facilities.[137]
In the wake of theOrlando nightclub shooting, Brown participated in theChris Murphy gun control filibuster.[138] A few weeks later, he voted for the Feinstein Amendment, which would have barred anyone on the terrorist watch list from buying a gun.[139]
In response to the2017 Las Vegas shooting, he supportedDianne Feinstein's effort to banbump stocks.[140]
Brown was one of ten senators to cosponsor the Safe Freight Act in 2019, a bill requiring freight trains to have on board one or more certified conductors and a certified engineer who can collaborate on protecting the train and people living near the tracks. The legislation was meant to correct aFederal Railroad Administration rollback of a proposed rule intended to establish safety standards.[141]
Brown was one of 67 members of Congress who voted against the 2001USA PATRIOT Act.[142][143] In 2015, he co-sponsored a bill that would restrictISIS's financing by authorizing new sanctions on foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate financial transactions with ISIS. The bill called for tightening international passport regulations and additional screening of people attempting to enter the U.S. on certain types of visas. The bill also provided grants to local law enforcement agencies to train for active shooter situations and terrorist attacks and to conduct cyber-training to identify and track extremists such as the couple behind the2015 San Bernardino attack.[144][145][146]
Brown was married to Larke Recchie from 1979 to 1987, and they had two children. During their divorce proceedings, Recchie obtained a restraining order against Brown to keep him from harassing or annoying her and from "doing bodily harm". In a supporting affidavit, she said she was "in fear for the safety and well-being of myself and our children due to [Brown's] physical violence and abusive nature" and that Brown had "intimidated, pushed, shoved and bullied" her on several occasions.[147] Years later, Recchie walked back her claims of physical violence against Brown.[148]
Recchie andCleveland Plain Dealer columnistConnie Schultz later became friends and filmed an ad together for Brown's 2006 Senate campaign. Recchie hosted a fund-raising event for Brown's 2012 reelection campaign against RepublicanJosh Mandel and issued a statement saying, "I understand that in campaigns you often have to go after your opponent, but Josh Mandel should know better than to go after our family. I ask that he immediately put a stop to this kind of politics. I was proud to support Sherrod in 2006 and I'm proud to support him again this time around against Josh Mandel. Josh Mandel should immediately stop this kind of dirty campaigning."[147]
In 2004, Brown married Schultz.[149] She resigned from her job in 2011, because being a politician's spouse presented a conflict of interest.[150] She won aPulitzer Prize in 2005.[151] She is also the author ofLife Happens (2007) and...and His Lovely Wife (2008), in which she describes her experiences as the spouse of a U.S. Senate candidate.[152] He has two stepchildren from this marriage.[153]
Brown's daughter Elizabeth was president pro tempore of theColumbus City Council and served on the council for seven years.[154] He has five grandchildren.[155] He isLutheran.[156] Brown's brother,Charlie, is a formerWest Virginia attorney general.[157]
In 2007, Brown was awarded an honorary doctorate fromCapital University.[158] He was awarded anhonorary doctor of public service degree fromOtterbein University in 2014. Along with his wife, Brown delivered a keynote address at the undergraduate commencement.[159]
In June 2023, NBC News reported that Brown had been late paying his Cleveland property tax bill seven times, most recently in February, and that for years he claimed owner-occupant tax credits on properties in two different Ohio counties.[160] Brown subsequently paid the delinquent tax bill and repaid Franklin County for the tax credit. His campaign said he would not claim it in future years.[160] In August 2023, Brown corrected several years of Senate financial disclosure forms that had previously omitted his wife's pension money.[161]
Brown is the author of three books:
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 69,455 | 100.00 | |
| Total votes | 69,455 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 201,004 | 67.43 | |
| Republican | Robert Lucas | 97,090 | 32.57 | |
| Total votes | 298,094 | 100 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown | 583,776 | 78.11% | |
| Democratic | Merrill Kesier Jr. | 163,628 | 21.89% | |
| Total votes | 747,404 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown | 2,257,369 | 56.16% | +20.0 | |
| Republican | Mike DeWine (incumbent) | 1,761,037 | 43.82% | −15.8 | |
| Independent | Richard Duncan | 830 | 0.02% | n/a | |
| Majority | 452,690 | 12.34% | |||
| Turnout | 4,019,236 | 53.25% | |||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | Swing | -17.9 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 802,678 | 100.00 | |
| Total votes | 802,678 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 2,762,766 | 50.70% | −5.46% | |
| Republican | Josh Mandel | 2,435,744 | 44.70% | +0.88% | |
| Independent | Scott Rupert | 250,618 | 4.60% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 5,449,128 | 100.0% | N/A | ||
| Democratichold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 613,373 | 100% | |
| Total votes | 613,373 | 100% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 2,358,508 | 53.40% | +2.70% | |
| Republican | Jim Renacci | 2,057,559 | 46.58% | +1.88% | |
| Write-in | 1,012 | 0.02% | N/A | ||
| Total votes | 4,410,898 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Democratichold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bernie Moreno | 2,857,383 | 50.09% | +3.51% | |
| Democratic | Sherrod Brown (incumbent) | 2,650,949 | 46.47% | −6.93% | |
| Libertarian | Don Kissick | 195,648 | 3.43% | N/A | |
| Write-in | 640 | 0.01% | -0.01% | ||
| Total votes | 5,704,620 | 100.00% | |||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | |||||
In Ohio, Senator Sherrod Brown, a longtime champion of working-class voters, was toppled by a rich Republican former car dealer.
Reconnecting the Democratic Party to the working class is an electoral and a moral imperative, and it will be my mission for the rest of my life.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
