84 Facts About Sherrod Brown

Sherrod Campbell Brown is an American politician who served from 2007 to 2025 as a United States senator from Ohio.

Sherrod Brown started his political career in 1975 as a state representative.

Sherrod Brown was elected to the US Senate in 2006, defeating two-term Republican incumbent Mike DeWine.

Sherrod Brown ran for reelection in 2024, but was defeated by Republican nominee and businessman Bernie Moreno.

Sherrod Brown is the most recent Democrat to hold elected statewide office in Ohio.

Sherrod Brown has Scottish, Irish, German, and English ancestry, and was named after his maternal grandfather.

Sherrod Brown became an Eagle Scout in 1967; his badge was presented by John Glenn.

In 1974, Sherrod Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian studies from Yale University.

Sherrod Brown went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in education and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Ohio State University at Columbus in 1979 and 1981, respectively.

Sherrod Brown taught at Ohio State University's Mansfield branch campus from 1979 to 1981.

Sherrod Brown served as a state representative in Ohio from 1974 to 1982.

In 1982 Brown ran for Ohio Secretary of State to succeed Anthony J Celebrezze Jr.

Sherrod Brown won a four-way Democratic primary that included Dennis Kucinich, then defeated Republican Virgil Brown in the general election.

In 1992, Sherrod Brown moved from Mansfield to Lorain, Ohio, and won a heavily contested Democratic primary for the open seat for Ohio's 13th district, in the western and southern suburbs of Cleveland, after eight-term incumbent Don Pease announced his retirement.

In 2005, Sherrod Brown led the Democratic effort to block the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

For many months, Sherrod Brown worked as whip on the issue, securing Democratic "nay" votes and seeking Republican allies.

Sherrod Brown opposed an amendment to Ohio's constitution that banned same-sex marriage.

Sherrod Brown was one of the few US Representatives to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

Sherrod Brown was the ranking minority member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee.

Sherrod Brown served on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Sherrod Brown's announcement came shortly after Democrat Paul Hackett stated that he would soon announce his candidacy.

Sherrod Brown ran for reelection in 2012, facing opponent Josh Mandel, who in 2010 defeated the incumbent state treasurer by 14 points.

In May 2012, Sherrod Brown campaigned with The West Wing actor Martin Sheen.

In 2024, Sherrod Brown ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and in the general election faced the Republican nominee, businessman Bernie Moreno.

Sherrod Brown is a staunch critic of free trade and has taken progressive stances on financial issues.

Sherrod Brown has pushed for the Democratic Party to adopt a more populist approach, focusing on issues affecting working-class Americans.

Sherrod Brown was appointed co-chair of the Joint Multiemployer Pension Solvency Committee in 2018.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sherrod Brown proposed a bill that would let workers immediately receive paid sick days, allowing them to stay home and self-quarantine if feeling sick or in the event of any public health emergency.

Sherrod Brown argued this would help slow the spread of the virus in workplaces.

Sherrod Brown criticized Republicans for blocking the proposal but thought that the House would pass similar measures.

Sherrod Brown pushed for legislation in 2020 that would require the EPA to more strictly regulate perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Sherrod Brown pushed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021 to establish the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence in Ohio.

Sherrod Brown called in July 2024 for Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 United States presidential election.

In January 2025, Harvard Kennedy School announced that Sherrod Brown would be a Spring 2025 Visiting Fellow.

One of Bernie Sanders's closest allies in the US Senate, Sherrod Brown nevertheless endorsed Hillary Clinton and campaigned for her in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary in Ohio.

Sherrod Brown was vetted as a potential vice-presidential running mate for Clinton.

Sherrod Brown had the distinct disadvantage that had Clinton won, Ohio's Republican Governor John Kasich would have chosen Sherrod Brown's replacement in the Senate, whereas Kaine's replacement would be chosen by Democrat and Clinton ally Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe.

The Washington Monthly suggested in 2017 that Sherrod Brown could unite the establishment and progressive wings of the Democratic Party as a presidential candidate in 2020.

Sherrod Brown praised West Virginia teachers who held a nine-day strike in early 2018.

Sherrod Brown co-sponsored the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act in 2012, a bill that would prohibit the export of some electronics for environmental reasons.

Sherrod Brown called for the federal government to give Ohio's school districts money to test for lead in drinking water.

Sherrod Brown supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, voting for it in 2009, and he voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Sherrod Brown co-sponsored the single-payer Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act in 2006.

Sherrod Brown did not co-sponsor Senator Bernie Sanders's single-payer health plan, despite saying he has "always been supportive" of such a system.

Sherrod Brown said he was supporting his own plan, which would allow people 55 and older to buy into Medicare.

Sherrod Brown was one of six Democratic senators to introduce the American Miners Act of 2019, a bill to amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to swap funds in excess of the amount needed to meet existing obligations under the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the 1974 Pension Plan as part of an effort to prevent its insolvency as a result of coal company bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis.

In July 2023, Sherrod Brown was one of a group of Democratic senators to introduce the Stop Predatory Investing Act to ban corporate investors that buy up more than 50 single-family homes from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties.

Sherrod Brown voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

In 2022, Sherrod Brown voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation intended to codify same-sex marriage rights into federal law.

Sherrod Brown sponsored the Gold Star Fathers Act of 2014, a bill that would expand preferred eligibility for federal jobs to the fathers of certain permanently disabled or deceased veterans.

Sherrod Brown became the chair of the Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy in 2021, after having been its ranking Democratic member since 2015.

Sherrod Brown has sponsored legislation to require corporate political action committees to disclose their donors.

Sherrod Brown received $10.4 million in PAC money from 1997 to 2018.

Some corporate PAC money Sherrod Brown received came from health insurance and pharmaceutical companies that the state of Ohio sued for illegally driving up drug prices.

Sherrod Brown argued the bill overwhelmingly benefited wealthy individuals and corporations, with a much smaller impact on the middle class.

Sherrod Brown voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Sherrod Brown has criticized free trade with China and other countries.

The Columbus Dispatch wrote in 2011 that Sherrod Brown "loves to rail against international trade agreements".

Sherrod Brown co-authored and sponsored a bill that would officially declare China a currency manipulator and require the Department of Commerce to impose countervailing duties on Chinese imports.

Sherrod Brown called for tariffs to be imposed on imports from China in 2016 and praised Hillary Clinton's plan to enforce rules and trade laws and triple the enforcement budgets at the United States Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.

Sherrod Brown opposes NAFTA, which he argues should be renegotiated to aid Ohio workers.

Sherrod Brown supported President Trump's decision in 2018 to impose tariffs on washing machine imports.

Sherrod Brown supported his first trade agreement in 2019, having never previously supported one in Congress.

Sherrod Brown voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement because he said it would send Ohioan jobs to Mexico, but supported a new trade agreement for the US, Mexico, and Canada after a "step toward a pro-worker trade policy, but it's not a perfect agreement".

Sherrod Brown opposed the Iraq War and voted against the Iraq Resolution as a House Representative.

Sherrod Brown voted against the $87 billion war budgetary supplement and for redeploying US troops out of Iraq by March 2008.

Sherrod Brown voted for the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008, which appropriated $250 billion for ongoing military operations and domestic programs.

Sherrod Brown voted in 2010 for the ratification of New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and the Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads and 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years, and providing for a continuation of on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year.

Sherrod Brown co-sponsored reaffirmations of the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances in regard to United States-Taiwan relations.

Sherrod Brown co-sponsored an amendment to the budget in 2015 that was unanimously approved by the Senate and that would reimpose sanctions on Iran if Iran violated the terms of the interim or final agreement by advancing its nuclear program.

Sherrod Brown voted against a controversial Israel Anti-Boycott Act initiated by Republicans in 2019 that would allow states to prohibit government agencies from contracting with organizations involved in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Sherrod Brown voted that same year for the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which placed sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea.

In 2024, Sherrod Brown urged the Biden administration to recognize a "nonmilitarized" Palestinian state after the end of the Gaza war.

Sherrod Brown called the Republican legislature in Ohio "lunatics" for introducing a concealed carry bill that would allow people to carry guns into airplane terminals, police buildings, private airplanes, and day care facilities.

Sherrod Brown was one of ten senators to cosponsor the Safe Freight Act in 2019, a bill requiring freight trains to have one or more certified conductors and a certified engineer aboard who can collaborate on protecting the train and people living near the tracks.

Sherrod Brown was one of 67 members of Congress who voted against the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act.

Sherrod Brown was married to Larke Recchie from 1979 to 1987, and they had two children.

Sherrod Brown resigned from her job in 2011, because being a politician's spouse presented a conflict of interest.

Sherrod Brown's brother, Charlie, is a former West Virginia attorney general.

In 2007, Sherrod Brown was awarded an honorary doctorate from Capital University.

Sherrod Brown was awarded an honorary doctor of public service degree from Otterbein University in 2014.

In June 2023, NBC News reported that Sherrod Brown had been late paying his Cleveland property tax bill seven times, most recently in February, and that for years he claimed owner-occupant tax credits on properties in two different Ohio counties.

Sherrod Brown subsequently paid the delinquent tax bill and repaid Franklin County for the tax credit.

Sherrod Brown's campaign said he would not claim it in future years.