Jan 3, 2025
David Skolnick
For the first time in 32 years, Democrat Sherrod Brown no longer holds public office.
If you go back 50 years, Brown was an elected official for 48 of them, starting as a state representative, first elected in 1974, and after eight years, he spent another eight as Ohio’s secretary of state.
After losing reelection, Brown was out of elected office for two years before winning a U.S. House seat in 1992.
With Ohio a solid Republican state, is there a place for a 72-year-old progressive-populist Democrat who has spent nearly all of his adult life as a politician?
Brown said Dec. 17: “This is my last speech on the floor this year. But it is not — I promise you — the last time you will hear from me.”
Republican Mike DeWine made a remarkable political comeback when he was elected in 2010 as attorney general and then eight years later as governor. DeWine held more elected offices than Brown – starting with his first election in 1976 as Greene County prosecutor, then a state senator, U.S. House member, lieutenant governor and 12 years in the U.S. Senate, losing to Brown in 2006.
But the political climate in Ohio is very different now and even DeWine, who is an old-school conservative Republican, is on the outs at times with his party’s mainstream as he’s not closely aligned with President-elect Donald Trump.
So can Brown make a political comeback? Does he even want to try it?
The next election for a seat in the U.S. Senate as well as the statewide executive branch positions is in 2026.
If Brown chooses to run for the Senate seat, it will depend on whether Trump remains popular in Ohio, a state he’s won in three consecutive presidential elections. It will also depend on who DeWine picks to replace Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, who is vacating the Senate seat before his Jan. 20 inauguration.
If that successor is a strong candidate — or even just a competent one — and Trump’s policies continue to resonate with Ohio voters, Brown would face a very difficult challenge to win next year for the Senate.
The chances of a successful gubernatorial bid for Brown, should he go that route, is likely even smaller. DeWine cannot run for reelection next year, and Republicans with statewide name recognition – though not to the level of Brown – are lining up to succeed him.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted seemed like a definite candidate for governor, but he may decide to take the Senate appointment. DeWine already has endorsed Husted for governor so if the lieutenant governor wants the Senate spot instead, all he likely has to do is ask.
DeWine and Husted met in mid-December with Trump and Vance presumably to discuss the Senate appointment for the lieutenant governor.
A number of other Republicans also are interested in the Senate race — and there is no guarantee that whoever is selected won’t face a primary election opponent in 2026.
DeWine has stressed that whoever he selects must be strong enough to withstand such a challenge from within the party.
With Republican Bernie Moreno, who beat Brown for the Senate seat, being officially sworn in to the job today, the political newcomer will be Ohio’s senior senator.
Whoever DeWine chooses to replace Vance will join him as the junior senator.
Hopefully, Moreno and Vance’s successor can serve Ohio as well as Brown and Republican Rob Portman, who retired in 2022 after 12 years.
Vance gets an incomplete grade as senator because he spent only two years there and the second half of 2024, he was on the campaign trail.
Brown spent 18 years frequently traveling throughout the state, often visiting the Mahoning Valley once or twice a month. During Portman’s time in the Senate, he too frequently traveled the state, coming to this area six to eight times a year.
Except for a tour of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna two weeks into his term and several trips to East Palestine, only because it was the site of a horrific train derailment, Vance was rarely in the Valley. I can’t think of a single public visit to Mahoning County in the two years Vance served in the Senate. He also made infrequent stops in the rest of the state.
Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.
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