FLORENCE, SC — Senator Sherrod Brown said on Friday that he sees “an absolute path” in the 2020 field “for a progressive that talks to workers” like he does.
Before crowds large and small in South Carolina, Brown continued pushing his message of valuing hard work.
“I just think, as a country, we need to understand that some people are invisible in this country and they get ignored,” he said at one event. “And we fight for them.”
Brown’s potential 2020 pitch seemed to resonate with South Carolina voters who have followed him for years, as well as those just beginning to learn about him.
“He’s the most qualified, he’s the most progressive, and the most electable, which is really what we need,” said Lewis Burke, who attended a meet and greet in Columbia.
“Well, I’m impressed by him,” said Mack Hines, a pastor in Mullins who attended a meet and greet in Florence. “I like the fact that he cares about poor people — the ‘invisible poor,’ as he called them. I never thought of it in that vein.”
Brown got a warm reception at a non-profit in Columbia, where an intimate meeting with about 15 veterans and formerly homeless youth led to some emotional conversations about dignity in work.
South Carolina is the most diverse state Brown has toured so far, but several African-American voters said policy and perspective matters more to them than the color of a candidate’s skin.
“Most of us just want any man, when he’s talking to us, to actually listen to us, to respect what we’re saying — just to be down to earth with us,” said Glendella Jackson, an Army veteran who attended the Columbia event.
“I’m more about, ‘Hey, what’s this person about and what’s his political goals?’” said Gillet Hood, who also attended the Columbia event. “Now Sherrod Brown, he seems like a cool person.”
Brown — who has said he’ll announce in late March whether he’s running for president — has received good reviews throughout his tour to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and now South Carolina.
With it coming to an end, Spectrum Washington reporter Taylor Popielarz asked Brown on Friday what this experience has taught him.
“It makes me understand better what to do if I run and if I were to win,” Brown said.
At a packed meet and greet in a house in Columbia, Brown’s proposal to make Medicare available at 50 or 55 won over a local health policy PhD student.
“I feel like his approach with taking things incrementally is a good approach because we have to fix what we already have before we can make bigger efforts to make health care accessible to everyone,” said Shamika Jones.
Brown and his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz, ended their Friday in the small city of Florence.
About two dozen people showed up to hear from them, along with the local mayor — who’s already backing Brown for president.
“Senator Brown’s focus on the ‘Dignity of Work’ — and frankly on economic issues, as opposed to identity issues — I think is very important,” said Florence Mayor Stephen Wukela. “And I think it’s reflected in some of the other candidates, who are already candidates, kind of citing some of those same focuses.”
Brown has three more events in South Carolina on Saturday.