Sherrod Brown for president? He’s thinking about it

Columbus Dispatch

Sherrod Brown, speaking hours after an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said regardless of whether he runs, he wants Democrats who are seeking the White House to use lessons from his race as a blueprint for how to run in the industrial Midwest.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown, who won a third term last week to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate, said Monday he is considering running for president in 2020.

Brown, a Democrat who won re-election Tuesday by about 6 percentage points, said he’s hearing “sort of a crescendo” of interest in him seeking the White House, be it through his wife Connie Schultz’s Facebook page, or through calls or emails. “We’re hearing it increase, so we’re thinking about it as a result,” he said, adding, “we’re not close to saying yes.”

While Democrats won back the majority in the House last Tuesday, in Ohio Republicans swept non-judicial statewide seats and kept 12 of 16 U.S. House seats. Brown was the exception, despite an often harsh campaign where Republicans brought up his messy and contentious divorce from his first wife. In particular, they highlighted a restraining order she sought against Brown and allegations that he’d physically pushed her aside when entering her home.

But that divorce was decades ago, and his first wife and Brown have mended fences to the point that she cut a campaign ad defending her ex-husband. She’s also hosted fundraisers for Brown and criticized Republicans for using her family life for campaign attacks.

Brown said voters in Ohio ultimately ignored the decades-old divorce because “voters in Ohio trust me.” He said he found irony in the fact that his opponent “attacked my family repeatedly even though I am fighting for Ohio families.”

He admitted a campaign against Trump could be similarly nasty, but he and his family are prepared for the possibility that the divorce could be used again.

Brown, speaking hours after an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said regardless of whether he runs, he wants Democrats who are seeking the White House to use lessons from his race as a blueprint for how to run in the industrial Midwest.

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181112/sherrod-brown-for-president-hes-thinking-about-it