Sherrod Brown mulls 'post-Senate mission,' doesn't rule out future run for office in Ohio

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Sen. Sherrod Brown doesn't sound like a man preparing to sail off into retirement.

The standard-bearer of Ohio's Democratic Party will leave the U.S. Senate after losing his second election ever to Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno. But as he delivered the final speech of this term on the Senate floor last week, Brown stopped short of calling it a farewell.

He may be returning to Ohio, the longtime senator told his colleagues, but it won't be the last time they hear from him.

"I'm ruling out nothing," Brown said in an interview with this newspaper's statehouse bureau. "My post-Senate mission is to make the Democratic Party the party of workers again. I will do that whether I run for office or whether I set up an institute or whether I just in my private life find ways of doing that."

Brown's departure leaves just one Democrat in statewide office in Ohio: Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner. It also comes at a time of reckoning for the national party, which experienced brutal losses in November as President-elect Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and Republicans gained control of Congress.

To Brown, the solution is clear. He contends Democrats must win back working-class voters in areas like Ohio's Mahoning Valley, many of whom turned to Trump and the GOP. Voters increasingly see Democrats as the corporate "bicoastal party," Brown said, even though he believes Republicans are the true allies to Wall Street.

Brown's message now is the same one he tried to sell voters. His campaign spent over $100 million − not including hundreds of millions of dollars that his allies poured into Ohio − in what became the country's most expensive non-presidential race on record. In the end, Brown managed to outperform Harris on the ballot by 7.5 percentage points.

But that's where his victories stopped.

What's next for Sherrod Brown?

Despite the loss, speculation about Brown's future has already run rampant.

Gov. Mike DeWine will appoint a Republican to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance in the Senate, but that person will need to run in 2026 to keep the job. Brown said he's not ruling out a run for that seat or Ohio governor in an election cycle that will likely be more favorable to Democrats nationally.

"When you're a 50-year politician and you're extraordinarily well-known, and you only get 46% of the vote in an election in which you raise $300 million ... and you still got your butt kicked by a used car salesman, then you should probably be self-reflective," Moreno told reporters last month.

For now, Brown leaves behind a political career defined by his opposition to NAFTA and other trade policies he feared would leave American workers in the dust. He helped restore employee pensions, cap the cost of insulin, expand the Child Tax Credit and crack down on fentanyl traffickers. He also played a role in the infrastructure law that provided long-awaited funding for a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky.

Some of that policy work ingratiated Brown with Republicans. His only loss before last month was a 1990 reelection bid for secretary of state against former GOP Gov. Bob Taft, who endorsed Brown over Moreno. Brown ousted DeWine from the Senate during a blue wave in 2006, and GOP strategists attributed his 2012 and 2018 victories to weak opponents.

Still, Moreno and his allies didn't take anything for granted. Republicans who have been in Ohio long enough recognize Brown as a skilled retail politician and a force to be reckoned with on the campaign trail.

"Brown has had a great political career in the state of Ohio," former Ohio Republican Party chair Bob Paduchik said. "Few politicians have served as long as he has. He's always been a tough candidate, and Bernie had to run a perfect race to beat him. And he did."

Brown: 'I keep working' until the end

Beyond the politics, Brown's supporters remember the personal touch he brought to policy fights and elections.

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said Brown was the first person to call and congratulate him for winning a low-stakes race for Hamilton County clerk of courts in 2016. United Auto Workers Local 14 president Tony Totty said Brown spoke out about a 4-year-old girl who couldn't go to the doctor after General Motors canceled health insurance for striking members.

Susan Zeier of Sandusky recalled a letter from Brown in 2018, pledging to help with her fight to expand benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in the Middle East. Years later, President Joe Biden signed a bill named for Zeier's son-in-law, an Ohio National Guard veteran who died in 2020 after a three-year battle with lung cancer.

"I think Ohio has lost one of the best senators we've ever had," Zeier said. "Sherrod was part of our heart and soul in this state. He truly did his job not just for veterans, but all Ohioans. He sincerely cares, and I think he's one of those last few politicians that was in the Senate for the right reasons."

Brown spent his final days in the Senate pushing for legislation that would restore full Social Security benefits for teachers, police officers and other pension holders. He still has not spoken to Moreno − a standard practice for politicians who pass the baton − but said his staff has been cooperative and hopes to see both new senators pick up their constituent services.

Moreno will take the oath of office on Jan. 3.

When Brown leaves Washington, only he knows what comes next. But he did make one promise: The canary pin he wears on his suit jacket, an homage to workers, isn't coming off.

"Of course I'm disappointed in November," Brown said, "but I keep working and we keep making a difference."

Haley BeMiller covers state government and politics for the Paste BN Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.