COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown made clear during a farewell speech Tuesday that he does not plan to abandon his career-long fight for American workers despite suffering a bitter defeat last month in Ohio, where it’s become nearly impossible for his party to win statewide elections.
“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,” the 72-year-old Brown said in his signature gravelly voice, after thanking staff and family members who watched in the Senate chamber. He at times fought back tears.
It was a telling remark, given Brown’s high political profile in his native Ohio. The state’s political observers are already floating his name as a possible contender for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican JD Vance, the vice president-elect, or for the governorship. Both offices are up for grabs in 2026.
Brown said only that he would return to Ohio in January as “a private citizen” and that people who love the country “fight for the people who make it work every day.”
The Democrat blasted the Washington establishment for bowing to Wall Street’s interest over workers, with painful results for places like his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio. He said he learned from his parents — a conservative and a liberal — “that the role of government was to help the little guy. The big guys can take care of themselves.”
This fall, Brown delivered a similar message to voters without success, losing his reelection bid to Republican Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman and newcomer to public office, by about 3.5 percentage points. Campaigns and outside groups spent nearly $300 million in what was one of Republicans’ top targets nationally as they successfully flipped the chamber.
That’s as the onetime bellwether state has tacked hard to the right and supported Donald Trump for president three times.
Without naming Trump, Brown — a pro-union senator consistently ranked among the chamber’s most liberal members — took a swipe at the notion that the president-elect’s movement can be called “populist.”
“True populism lifts all people. True populism doesn’t tear others down. True populism doesn’t play to race and division,” he said. “True populism is essentially about the dignity of work, putting workers at the center of all we should be doing.”
Brown touted key accomplishments of his 18-year Senate career that he said will have lasting impacts for working families. He named expanding health care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, helping thwart what he described as bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saving the pensions of over a million Delphi Corp. workers, and capping the price of insulin for Medicare patients at $35.
“These victories don’t come easy. Of course, they don’t — but they matter to millions of families,” Brown said. “When we stand up to corporate special interests, when we guarantee workers a seat at every table, when we see decisions here through the eyes of workers, we all do our jobs a bit differently — and better.”
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