Sherrod Brown reelected to US Senate: old-time labor liberalism triumphs over Ohio’s rightward drift

Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown secured his reelection to the US Senate, winning in a state that Donald Trump carried by 8 points in 2016.

Ohio was very much at the center of the prospective Trumpian realignment in American politics. A traditional swing state that voted narrowly for George W. Bush twice and then narrowly for Barack Obama twice, it swung hard to Trump in 2016 and had been semi-conceded by Democrats even when they thought Hillary Clinton was going to win.

That made Brown a natural target for the GOP heading into the midterms, but his opponent, Republican Rep. Jim Renacci, never really made Brown — who led consistently in all public polling — sweat.

Brown himself is a classic Midwestern labor liberal, a throwback to a brand of Democratic politician whose existence got a bit obscured by the Bernie/Hillary wars. During Obama’s time in office, Brown routinely staked out terrain to the White House’s left on trade and financial regulation while staying largely quiet (but voting conventionally with Democrats) on immigration and environmental disputes.

It was a winning formula in the 2006 and 2012 Senate races, and Brown’s reelection seems to demonstrate that nothing has fundamentally changed in the Trump era — despite a Republican president poaching Brown-style talking points on trade.

Had Trump actually done more to put meat on the bones of his gestures in the direction of populist economics, that might have broadened the GOP’s popularity in the state. Then again, had Trump actually done more to put meat on the bones of his gestures in the direction of populist economics, he might have found Brown to be an ally on some issues and simply given him bipartisan cover in his Senate race.

Trump’s actual strategy of pursuing a largely orthodox, largely hard-right economic policy agenda meant he and Brown were perennially at odds, but it fundamentally left the field clear for Brown to own his longtime brand as a working-class champion. In his ads, he championed the dignity of work, leaned into his reputation for wrinkled suits, and attacked Renacci’s record on health care, taxes, and trade.

Brown has been vaguely on the periphery of 2020 presidential speculation, existing somewhat in the same lane as Joe Biden on the theory that a Democrat with broadly normal policy views but a bit more of a white working-class vibe would be the optimal route to bring the party back into the White House.

Brown probably fits that mold better than Biden does, though he obviously lacks the name ID of a former vice president and has never been beloved by either the national donor class or grassroots progressive activists.

Nevertheless, his convincing win in a state that would almost certainly put Democrats over the top in a presidential race is sure to create at least some buzz around him as either an electable candidate in 2020 or a contender for the vice presidential slot.