WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sherrod Brown hadn’t yet graduated college when he was first recruited to run for office. At age 22, he became the youngest person ever elected to the Ohio State House.

Five decades later, the Democrat has served as State Representative, Ohio Secretary of State, U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator. In 2019, he even considered a presidential run.

Instead, Brown chose to remain in the Senate, where he is now running the 19^th campaign of his career to serve a fourth term.

Ohio's Senate race is among the most closely watched in the country, as Brown attempts to fend off Republican challenger Bernie Moreno in a state that has shifted more conservative in recent years. The result of the election could determine which party controls the Senate. The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up.

Brown touts his legislative record to demonstrate his commitment to workers and the middle class, the main focus of his campaign.

Sherrod Brown in 1975, the year he started his political career as a state representative in the Ohio House. At the time, he was the youngest person elected to that body. (Courtesy of the Ohio History Connection)

From the day he arrived in Congress in January 1993, Brown focused much of his efforts on protecting manufacturing jobs. Disillusioned by the ongoing decline of Ohio’s steel industry, Brown was among a minority to oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) both lobbied against the deal, which ended up passing 234-200 in November 1993.

Brown said the results of the deal were predictable.

“Jobs went south for cheap wages. That's what companies did, and then they lobbied Congress and presidents to pass trade agreements, and they went overseas,” Brown said. “That's always been wrongheaded.”

Though Brown was unable to stop passage of several more international trade agreements over the years, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1994 and the Agreement between the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada (USMCA) of 2020, he has successfully helped push to in block the passage of several more proposed trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

In recent years, both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have moved ideologically closer to Brown on free trade, toward a more protectionist view of U.S. manufacturing.

Brown also sponsored laws like the CHIPS Act to bring manufacturing jobs back to Rust Belt states like Ohio.

Brown often wears a pin depicting a canary inside a birdcage, alluding to the dangerous conditions coal miners once faced. He has long campaigned on maintaining “the dignity of work,” a stance that has earned him strong support from unions.

At a campaign stop in Niles, Ohio in August, members of United Steel Workers Local 2155 spoke in support of the Butch Lewis Act, a bill Brown sponsored that became law in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan. The law, which is named in honor of an Ohio Teamster who died in 2015, provides a bailout to fund multi-employer pension plans for 30 years, restoring pensions to their full amount. The law has preserved the pensions of more than 1 million Americans, according to the White House, including 62,000 Ohioans.

“For some of us here today and for workers across the state of Ohio, Sherrod led the fight to save our pensions. When the Wall Street brokers gambled them away, Sherrod never gave up,” said Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans President Norm Wernet.

In recent years, Brown has also turned his attention to the opioid crisis, which has claimed the lives of 3,651 people in Ohio in 2023 alone.

“I think I've always fought for Ohio, and it may be different issues depending on the time. A lot more time now on, on, on addiction issues and opioids and in fentanyl than ten years ago,” Brown said.

Brown FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which targets the drug’s supply chain, passed earlier this year.

While Brown’s core issues have not changed much over the course of his career, Ohio has.

From 1964 to 2016, the presidential candidate who won Ohio ended up winning the country. That streak ended in 2020, when Trump lost the national vote but carried Ohio by eight points. Registered Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats by nearly two to one.

Consequently, Republicans now hold all statewide offices except for one: Brown’s Senate seat. The party sees Ohio’s political shift as an opportunity to remove Brown’s distinction as the last Democrat standing.

Among an increasingly red electorate, Brown would need high Democratic turnout to win, in addition to winning over moderates, independents and a sizeable number of Trump voters.

Brown has sought to convince such voters to split their tickets by focusing on his core issues over partisan culture war issues. The same strategy has helped him consistently outperform his party in past elections.

“I think that voters will make the decision based on each individual race. And that’s why I’m going to win,” he said. “It’s not a theme of this election. It’s a theme of my career.”

Brown has distanced himself from the national Democratic Party. He called on President Joe Biden not to run for reelection. After Biden dropped out of the race, Brown endorsed his replacement on the ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris, but declined to campaign with her. He also skipped the Democratic Convention for the first time since he entered Congress, and instead held campaign events in Ohio.

“First of all, it's pure politics. There are a lot more voters in Toledo, Ohio, than there are Chicago,” Brown said. “But it's also I do my job, and my job is to continue to serve people and elections take care of themselves if you do the job the way you should.”

Brown has sought to showcase his bipartisan appeal through the endorsement of a prominent Ohio Republican, Wood County Sherriff Mark Wasylyshyn, who said he received significant pushback for the decision, but also many calls from fellow Republicans thanking him.

“People expect Republicans to support Republicans and Democrats to support Democrats. So whenever there's a Republican that supports a Democrat, it's going to get news,” said Wasylyshyn. “I've got to do what's best as sheriff for the citizens of Wood County, regardless of party.”

Ohioans remain less conservative on social issues, voting last year to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and legalize recreational cannabis.

Brown has not lost an election since 1990, when he was voted out as Ohio Secretary of State.

“I don’t know if the stakes feel higher. I know there's more money against me than there's ever been. I mean, some outside wall Street group just dropped $12 million in against me,” he said. “It's the toughest race in that sense.”

It is, in fact, the most expensive race in the country—with ad spending topping $310 million.

Brown said he still feels in touch with Ohio voters.

“I feel good, I really do. And this isn't just political talk,” he said. “I come home every Thursday and go around the state, all over the state, big towns, small towns, rural areas, metro areas, and listen to people and get ideas. You do your job right and things generally work out okay.”

At 71, Brown said he had not yet thought about whether the next term, if he wins, would be his last.

“I'm running this year for six years. My health is good. I feel lucky to get to do this job,” he said. “I wake up every day and think how fortunate I am to be able to fight for Ohio and have some victories for people.”