If Sherrod Brown wants a fourth term, the Democratic senator needs to win Ohioans who have drifted apart.

He needs the die-hard Democrats in his adopted hometown of Cleveland who are energized by Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascent to the top of the ticket. 

And he needs voters in parts of Ohio that have gravitated toward Republicans – such places as Belmont County on the West Virginia border, Trumbull County in the Mahoning Valley or Lorain County on the Lake Erie coast. Once part of any winning Democrat’s constellation of victories, they have entered the orbit of Donald Trump. 

Cuyahoga and Belmont counties don’t appear to agree on much anymore. Can they agree on Brown? 

“Actually, they agree on a whole lot of things,” Brown said after an event in Cleveland recently. He rattled off a list of issues that he’s campaigning on this year. 

They like a cap on insulin costs, he said. They like infrastructure jobs. They like that multiemployer pension plans received a lifeline from the American Rescue Plan Act. Those are things that both Cleveland and St. Clairsville can agree on, he said. The Democratic senator followed up with a punchline. 

“They have way more in common than you liberal media want to split them up,” he said. “Nice try, though.” 

While he’d probably disagree with the framing, Brown must straddle Ohio’s diverging political identities in order to win a state that will likely vote Trump for a third time. To do it, the Democrat is clasping hands tight with organized labor. He is touching on local issues. And he is pointing to Senate accomplishments with a populist flavor. 

Piecing together Ohio’s old Democratic coalition

In a late-August visit to a United Steelworkers’ union hall in Warren, he did all three. He was there to support a trade complaint lodged by U.S. aluminum makers against imports from countries including China and Mexico. 

He talked about help for Teamsters’ pensions. He gave an update on the big news in Trumbull County, the fate of two hospitals owned by a for-profit health system. Along the way, he landed on trade. 

“I’ve stood up to presidents in both parties,” Brown said, “and pretty much all of them because of bad trade policy.” 

Ask him about the current president, though, and he’ll bring the conversation back to his own race. Why isn’t President Joe Biden – whose major legislative accomplishments had Brown’s support – more popular in Ohio? 

“I don’t know. Ask them. Ask Ohio. I just know what I do,” Brown said in a media scrum after his remarks. He launched into a list of his Senate achievements. “And if you want to talk politics, I’m going to win this fall.” 

Leave it to Republican opponent Bernie Moreno to make sure that Biden, Harris and Brown appear in the same sentence – particularly when the topic is immigration. According to the GOP challenger, voters have a choice between the Biden-Harris record and Trump’s agenda. 

“It’s a great contrast: What was life like under President Trump for four years? What was your life like under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the last three-and-a-half years? Very simple, and people ultimately vote on that,” Moreno told Signal Ohio. “Sherrod Brown wants to make it about everything else.” 

Moreno to Brown: ‘The gig is up’

On a day in late September, Moreno stood on a sidewalk in north Columbus flanked by rows of Republican sheriffs. He emigrated from Colombia as a child, later worked as a car salesman and eventually ran his own business of luxury car dealerships. He won the GOP primary with Trump’s support. 

He may have been in Columbus, but the Westlake resident had something to say about the city that he, too, claims as his hometown: Cleveland. The city’s consent decree – a nearly 10-year-old deal with the U.S. Justice Department to overhaul how police use force and deal with the community – has hobbled officers, he said. 

“The Cleveland police department does not have operational control of that city,” Moreno said. “The criminals are running that city. The police have been absolutely castrated – and yes, I’m using that word, castrated – and are unable to do their job. We have to get rid of this consent decree that is choking the police department in Cleveland.”

Cleveland’s consent decree hasn’t been an issue in this race. But sheriffs have been, in a way. In this election, county sheriffs have become a proxy for the U.S. southern border. 

Mark Wasylyshyn, the Republican sheriff of Wood County, endorsed Brown and cut an ad celebrating the senator’s anti-money-laundering bill targeting fentanyl from China and Mexico. In the ad, the two appear together in a boat on the border, a mounted gun in view. 

Moreno’s sheriff-filled event served as a rejoinder. “I’ll see his two sheriffs and raise him 31,” the GOP candidate said. 

Reporters’ questions soon turned to Springfield, the Ohio city that is now home to many Haitians who have temporary protected status to live in the United States. Asked about Trump’s baseless claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets, Moreno told media to stop talking about cats and dogs. 

Instead, he maintained that so many new arrivals to Springfield were straining the safety net – and he linked Brown to the Biden administration, which granted the temporary protected status.

“Why are we taking our fragile safety net and giving it to foreign nationals?” he said. Moreno added that he doesn’t blame Haitians: “If I was in Haiti and I was desperate, I’d do the exact same thing they did. It’s certainly not the fault of the American citizens that live in Springfield. It’s the fault of corrupt federal politicians that don’t look out for American citizens.” 

Brown issued a statement last month calling to “lower the temperature” on Springfield and saying the city “faces real challenges, but the people playing politics are not helping.” 

As the race enters its final stretch, Moreno’s allies have been buying up TV airtime to knock down Brown’s edge in the race. Outside groups spent $59 million on ads in September against Brown and for Moreno. 

“The gig is up,” Moreno said of Brown. “People know who he is. He’s a guy who’s old, fake and tired, and they see it. So they want something new. They want somebody who’s actually going to make things happen. And he’s up against somebody who finally has the resources to compete with him evenly.”

Many of the ads target Brown over the issue of transgender athletes, a tack Republicans are taking in races across the country. One ad from a super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls Brown’s policies “way too liberal for Ohio.” 

Brown, along with most other Senate Democrats, has voted against a Republican amendment that would have blocked funding for schools that allow transgender athletes to play in women’s sports. A campaign representative told the New York Times that Brown saw the issue as a local one.

Abortion a dividing line

Brown doesn’t cater to both sides of the aisle on abortion. He’s making very clear that – between him and Moreno – Brown is the one who vocally backs abortion rights. 

Over the last few weeks, he has hammered Moreno over the Republican candidate’s comments on abortion. At a town hall, Moreno called it “a little crazy” that “a lot” of suburban women consider abortion rights their No. 1 issue – particularly women over the age of 50, he added.

Moreno’s campaign has called the remarks a “tongue-in-cheek joke” about Brown’s and the media’s treatment of abortion issues. But his words handed Brown a potent political tool in a state where nearly 57% of voters cast ballots to put abortion rights into the Ohio Constitution.

In a 2022 interview, Moreno described himself as “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.” More recently he has followed Trump in saying abortion laws should be left to the states while signaling that he supports a path to restrictions at 15 weeks. 

People know who he is. He’s a guy who’s old, fake and tired, and they see it. So they want something new.

Bernie Moreno on Sherrod Brown

Brown has also knocked Moreno over an overtime-pay lawsuit against his Mercedes-Benz dealership in Massachusetts. The plaintiff in that case was a car salesman who worked on commission but argued that he should be paid for working more than 40 hours per week. 

While that suit was ongoing, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in a separate case that commissioned employees were entitled to overtime. The car salesman cited that court precedent in one of his later pretrial filings against Moreno’s company. 

A second salesman also joined the suit. Moreno’s company took the case to trial, lost and had to pay $416,000, including attorneys fees. Before trial, the judge dinged Moreno for discarding overtime reports a couple of years after he sold the car dealership in 2018, though Moreno’s lawyers argued the reports didn’t include salespeople. 

The Republican candidate faulted what he called a “rogue Massachusetts Supreme Court” for the ultimate outcome of the case. He said his business’ bright spots should be getting attention, too.

“I haven’t seen one article that points out that I got ‘Best Places to Work in Northeast Ohio,’” Moreno said. “I’m waiting for that article.” 

Brown: This is a race between two people

At a Labor Day weekend festival on the bank of the Black River in Lorain, Brown gave his crowd a vision of a 2025 with a Democratic trifecta. 

“I win, we keep the White House, we win the House of Representatives, we pass the Protecting the Right to Organize, we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we do what working families in this country need when government stands on their side,” he said. 

We keep the White House, Brown told his audience, many of whom sat on folding chairs for the music-and-politics fare at this riverside park. He didn’t specify who would be sitting behind the Resolute Desk, though. He didn’t mention Harris by name. 

Brown’s attention turned down the ticket, not up to the presidential race. He introduced the Democratic candidates for Ohio Supreme Court, for the statehouse and for Lorain County Commission. 

Once the anchor of the district Brown served in the House of Representatives, Lorain County has sided with him in all of his Senate bids. Hillary Clinton almost lost it in 2016, but Brown carried it by 18 points two years later. Then Trump narrowly won the county in 2020. Within two years, Republicans had swept all three county commission seats.

He can talk party, he can make attacks, he can talk Harris and Biden and Trump and all that. But voters are going to choose between two people

Sherrod Brown on Bernie Moreno

In a brief interview after the rally, after some amiable chitchat, Brown found his way around questions about Trump, Biden and Harris. 

How will he win Trump voters, whose support he’ll need to come out on top in Ohio? 

“I don’t think in terms of winning Trump voters,” he said. “I do what I do. I fight for workers.” 

When he promoted down-ticket candidates, did that underscore the point that, if any Democrat has coattails in Ohio, it’s Brown and not Harris?

“That’s your editorial opinion,” Brown said. “These are my friends, I know all these people. They’re standing on stage. I want them to win.” 

So what was the Biden administration’s biggest accomplishment for Ohio?

“I think more of what I’ve done for Ohio in these last four years,” he replied. “Biden signed these bills, so I thank them for that.” 

Brown went back to his list: federal aid for pension plans, healthcare assistance for veterans exposed to burn pits. 

“Credit them wherever you want, but those were some of the top priorities I’ve worked on,” he said.

At each turn, Brown rejected the underlying premise of the questions, that all politics is now national. That this election, up and down the ticket, is a referendum on Donald Trump, Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. 

Sure, Moreno will point out how many times Brown has voted with fellow Democrats. But the way Brown puts it, voters are picking between Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno and not between anyone else. 

“He can talk party, he can make attacks, he can talk Harris and Biden and Trump and all that,” Brown said of his opponent. “But voters are going to choose between two people.” 

‘You got to focus on your own race first’ 

Brown lost Belmont County in 2018 and may lose it again. This week’s Marist poll showed him with 36% support in Appalachian Ohio. It’s better than Harris’ 28% in the region, and that could make a difference. 

If Brown can outrun Harris across the state, hold on to places like Lorain and Trumbull counties and cement Democratic gains in the suburbs, he might withstand a Trump victory. How does Brown stay ahead of Harris? Win Trump voters. 

Phil Wallace, the chair of the Belmont County Democratic Party, said he hopes Brown can sway Republicans by focusing on work across the aisle.  

“When they get the ballot in front of them, it’s not a down-the-ticket, down-the-ballot mark, vote for all Republicans,” Wallace said. He added, “As long as he can work both sides and get things done, I think he’ll come out a winner in the end.” 

Wallace owns a printing company in Martins Ferry and is an honorary member of the United Mine Workers of America. It’s an important union in Ohio’s coal country and one that has endorsed Brown. The UMWA made no endorsement for president. 

If Brown isn’t putting a premium on the presidential contest, Wallace understands. 

“He is focusing on Sherrod Brown, which he should actually do, because he has to win this race or he wants to win this race, and is going to win this race, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

Brown was the fourth Senate Democrat to call on Biden to drop out this summer. He skipped the Democratic National Convention. When asked by CNN to defend Harris’ record as vice president, he replied: “My job is to fight for Ohio workers. You can talk about the presidential race. That’s your job.”   

His absence from the Chicago convention didn’t go unnoticed back home. In a since-deleted post on X, Cleveland City Council Member Richard Starr called Brown’s no-show “disrespectful.” Starr now says that his frustration came from a place of loyalty to Biden and Harris.

If any loyal Democrats were rubbed the wrong way by Brown distancing himself from the current administration, they seem ready to forgive and vote. 

“Right now we have to move past that, and we have to do what’s right, because democracy and our lives are on the line,” Starr told Signal Cleveland. “In order for Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz to get into office and do a great job, they’re going to need the Senate, and we’re going to need Sherrod Brown.”

At a late-September rally geared toward Black men in Cleveland, Brown roamed a rain-soaked city park and chatted up the crowd. He gave his trademark canary pin – an old coal mine symbol – to one young attendee.

The event was full of members of the Divine Nine, the country’s historically Black fraternities and sororities. They can claim the vice president, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, as one of their own. 

Sharing the stage with U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, the senator told a story about chatting with Harris in the Senate cloakroom. They talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and one of Brown’s favorite phrases, “the dignity of work.” She later handed him a book, a collection of King’s speeches titled “All Labor Has Dignity,” he said. 

“When you help Shontel, when you help me, when you help Kamala in this election, you know you’re helping workers of all races,” he said. “You’re helping close that gap between Black ownership and white ownership.” 

In the days leading up to that rally, Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin told Signal Cleveland that Brown was “closing the gap” after some “misunderstandings” following the CNN interview and the DNC. Griffin defended Brown’s record of bringing resources back home to Cleveland.

“Any candidate will tell you, you got to focus on your own race first,” the council president said. “It’s like when you get on the airplane and they tell you to put the mask over your own face before you try to save anybody else.” 

That’s another point on which Cleveland and Belmont County can agree. 

Andrew Tobias contributed reporting from Columbus.