WASHINGTON, D.C. — After touring the four early primary and caucus states to spread his ‘Dignity of Work’ message, Senator Sherrod Brown announced on Thursday that he will not run for president in 2020.

“We’ve decided the best place for me to continue fighting for Ohio and for the dignity of workers across the country, all workers, is to stay in the U.S. Senate,” Brown said in a conference call with Ohio reporters.

The decision comes less than one week after Brown completed his listening tour in South Carolina.

Spectrum Washington reporter Taylor Popielarz was the only journalist to follow Brown and his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz, on every leg of their tour — from its launch in Ohio, to stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and then SC.

“Being president isn’t something I have dreamed of my whole life, or even for years,” Brown said. “My goal for our tour was to make the dignity of work the centerpiece of the Democrats’ 2020 campaign because I believe that’s the way to beat Donald Trump, and it’s the way we should govern.”

Brown said he made the “overwhelmingly personal” decision with his family on Wednesday.

“You’ve heard me say many times, when you love this country you fight for the people who make it work,” Brown said. “I fight best when I bring joy to the battle. I find that joy fighting for Ohio in the Senate, so that’s where I can be most effective.”

Despite his pledge to focus on his duties as senator, Brown said the 2020 election will remain a priority for him. And he said he believes he’s already impacted the race.

“Not only are other candidates starting to talk about the dignity of work, voters across the country are demanding it,” he said. “It’s clear the dignity of work is a value that unites all of us.”

Brown said Trump is beatable in the South and industrial Midwest "if our candidates talk to workers the way that our dignity of work tour talked to workers, and most importantly listened to workers."

He added: “I will continue calling out President Trump’s phony populism. I’ll continue to hold him accountable for betraying workers in Ohio and across the country. I’ll do everything I can to elect a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate in 2020. That’s my commitment. That’s my promise. That will continue.”

The senator’s listening tour was largely well-received in each state he and Schultz visited.

Many Democratic-leaning voters who attended his events said they liked Brown’s message and found him genuine. One woman in Nevada said Schultz would be such a good First Lady, “She would kind of challenge Michelle Obama.”

The biggest obstacle Brown faced, at least in voters’ minds, was his low name recognition in places outside of Ohio.

In his call with reporters on Thursday, Brown explained his decision was based mostly on discussions with his family.

“It’s not fear of any specific opponent. It wasn’t process. It wasn’t money. It’s my gut,” he said.

When asked if being a white male in a presidential election driven by calls for diversity played a role — something Brown was asked about directly by a woman in New Hampshire — Brown said no.

“That was not a factor,” he said on Thursday. “My message is strong about the dignity of work.”

Brown was also asked if a factor in his decision was the fact that, if he ran and won, Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine would have been given the opportunity to appoint a Republican to Brown’s Senate seat.

“No. Most Democrats would trade a Senate seat for the presidency,” Brown said. “That’s a pretty good trade for our side. Of course I didn’t like giving up that seat. Of course, if I had run and won, I would’ve been engaged in, two years later, in electing a Democrat that would support a new Democratic administration.”

Brown would not commit to supporting a particular candidate for 2020 on Thursday.

“I’m not leaning to anybody,” he said. “I don’t see any reason to do that; I’d rather have an influence on their messages, their campaigns.”

When asked if he’s open to being somebody’s running mate, Brown first replied: “No, not particularly. I really haven’t thought much about that.”

But when pressed by a second reporter if he was saying, officially, that he wouldn’t want to be considered, Brown broadened his answer.

“I don’t have any idea. I mean, I’m not thinking about that,” he said. “This is a discussion far away from that.”

Brown then added: “I want to stay in the arena and fight. And I don’t aspire to be vice president…I don’t think a presidential candidate would want to give up a Senate seat to choose me anyway.”

Ohio’s senior U.S. senator said he’ll continue to talk about the dignity of work in his current job.

“I approach this with an optimism that makes people want to work with me and makes people want to move the country ahead,” Brown said.

While he said he did not know if he’ll do anymore 2020-related traveling, Brown said he’s focused on making this election cycle “be about talking to workers everywhere” and electing Democrats to the White House and Senate.

“I’ve had a longer, more focused career on the dignity of work than anybody else,” Brown said. “But I’m confident one or a number of these candidates, whom I know are going in the right place in their politics, will pick this up.”

Briefly speaking about President Trump, Brown continued to slam him as a “phony populist.”

“[Trump] doesn’t show any empathy for those workers,” Brown said. “My Democratic colleagues in the Senate — and the other candidates whom I don’t know as well — will. And the question is the role that I will try to play in helping them talk about that message.”

Brown also said that, if a Democrat does get elected in 2020, he hopes the dignity of work will remain a central part of their platform.

“I want the newly-inaugurated Democratic president on January 20, 2021 to devote a whole part of her speech or his speech to the dignity of work and what it means around our country,” he said. “There are a lot of Democrats who can carry this message.”

As his call with reporters ended, Brown reflected on his busy February spent on the road.

“The tour made me more interested because I got to see another way to love my country,” he said.

“This was nothing but a success, and I’m just privileged to get to do it.”​