Pondering a presidential run, Sherrod Brown stops by for breakfast
| Washington
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) of Ohio made his first appearance at a Monitor Breakfast Tuesday, midway through a 鈥渓istening tour鈥� of early presidential primary states.
Throughout his career in public service, Senator Brown says, he never considered running for the White House. But now he is making a case for himself: He was the only Ohio Democrat to win statewide in 2018 (and it wasn鈥檛 close), after President Trump won the critical battleground state comfortably in 2016. That鈥檚 a sign, analysts say, that in the 2020 general election, Brown could retake the 鈥渂lue wall鈥� states 鈥� Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania 鈥� that handed Mr. Trump the presidency.
Brown鈥檚 campaign would focus on the 鈥渄ignity of work,鈥� addressing the concerns of working people 鈥� wages, retirement, health care, day care.
Why We Wrote This
The Democratic senator from the critical battleground state of Ohio would focus his campaign on the concerns of working people 鈥� and says his rumpled authenticity is a plus in the industrial Midwest. He plans to make a decision in March.
Before the senator took questions, he made a point of calling on Trump to rein in supporters who attack the media, in response to a BBC cameraman at Trump鈥檚 rally in El Paso, Texas, Monday night.
鈥淲e all are concerned that there will be something worse happening at some time in the future,鈥� Brown said.聽聽
(The White House issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon saying it 鈥渃ondemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people 鈥� including members of the press.鈥�)
What follows are excerpts from , lightly edited and condensed for clarity:
Q. How are you feeling about the 2020 race? Is the water warm?
I鈥檓 not ready to jump in. This was not a longtime dream of mine to be president of the United States, and I know that many candidates who鈥檝e announced have been thinking about this for months, years, longer than that. I haven鈥檛.聽
In November, I began to see more and more Democrats thinking we need to choose between talking to our progressive base and exciting the base as we do, and talking to workers about their lives, as if that鈥檚 a choice. We鈥檝e got to do both.
We don鈥檛 win swing states like New Hampshire and Nevada and Ohio and Michigan unless Democrats talk to our progressive base, never compromising on progressive values on civil rights and LGBT rights and women鈥檚 rights and on gun issues, never compromising on those 鈥� but speaking to workers at the same time. And that鈥檚 what the 鈥渄ignity of work鈥� tour is all about. We will make that decision [about a presidential campaign] in March.
Q. What have you learned so far from your tour?
One of the most interesting things is the response on the Patriot Corporation Act [which would reward companies that keep jobs in the US and pay American workers well] and on the Corporate Freeloader Fee [which would require corporations to reimburse taxpayers if their workers receive government assistance, such as food stamps].聽In rallies or house parties, they probably get the best response, because voters generally understand the importance of a tax system that actually works for workers and works for families.
Something else that鈥檚 been increasingly obvious to me is the importance of making day care a public good. I think that鈥檚 increasingly a role for government. I think the public is coming to that conclusion.
Q. Several of your colleagues and would-be opponents have endorsed various forms of Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. What鈥檚 your view of these two ideas?
I believe in universal [health care] coverage. I want to add to Obamacare, and I want to help people now. That means, if you allow voluntary buy-in [to Medicare] at 50 that鈥檚 not just practical and smart, it will help people today.
Eventually we probably get to something like Medicare for All, but we start by expanding it and helping people now.
Q. What about the Green New Deal?
Climate change is one of the most important moral issues of our times. We should be much more aggressive. But I don鈥檛 need to co-sponsor every bill that others think they need to co-sponsor to show my progressive politics. I want to get something done for people now.
Q. Will the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pass Congress? [Brown opposed NAFTA from the start, during his days in the House.]
I don鈥檛 see evidence that it鈥檚 going to pass. I don鈥檛 know what Republicans are going to do. I know that there are few Democrats in the Senate that support it.
[US Special Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer] thinks that he鈥檚 done the best he can, and I assume he has, but it just simply isn鈥檛 good enough for most Democrats, if not almost all of us.聽It鈥檚 not good enough for organized labor, it doesn鈥檛 work for workers. It doesn鈥檛 work for Mexican workers, in my mind.
Q. Hillary Clinton faced regular criticism over her voice and appearance. Do you worry that your gravelly voice and shaggy hair would make you unlikable as a presidential candidate?
That shaggy hair, as you say, and gravelly voice will work in union halls in the industrial Midwest, first of all. That was a pretty funny question.
I see what鈥檚 behind the question. It鈥檚 clear, women are judged differently, and it鈥檚 unfortunate that our society still judges women differently. A lot of the criticism of Hillary was unfair in that way, because she was held to a different standard.
