Democrat Bexley Sherrod Brown must disagree with the well-known assertion made by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a famous author of Jazz Age novels, that there are no second acts in American life.
This is due to the fact that Brown, 72, who was ousted by Ohio voters in November of last year after serving as one of their U.S. senators for 18 years, is anticipated to run against appointed Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican from Upper Arlington who will turn 58 on August 25.
Brown, a Mansfield native, had served in public office nearly continuously from 1975, when he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, until losing his 2024 Senate bid to Westlake Republican Bernie Moreno.
In 1990, Republican Bob Taft defeated Brown, who had previously been elected Ohio’s secretary of state. Following his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992, Brown defeated Republican Mike DeWine of Cedarville in 2006 and successfully repelled Senate bids from Josh Mandel of the GOP in 2012 and Jim Renacci of the GOP in 2018.
Husted, his lieutenant governor, was nominated eight months ago by then-Governor DeWine to fill the remaining Senate term of Cincinnati Republican JD Vance, who is currently vice president of Donald Trump.
Husted, a graduate of the University of Dayton, was raised in Montpelier, in the northwest corner of Ohio’s Williams County. He was elected to the Ohio House from a district that included Dayton. He went on to become the speaker of the House and, ultimately, the secretary of state. In 2018 and 2022, Husted served as DeWine’s running mate.
Brown would have multiple modern advantages in addition to one significant (historical) advantage in a Brown-Husted Senate contest. The historical advantage, previously mentioned, is that, with one (technical) exception, Ohio voters have declined to retain appointed senators since 1914, when they first started electing U.S. senators directly. That year’s winner was Marion Republican Warren G. Harding.
Six (men) have been appointed by governors to unexpired Senate mandates throughout those 111 years. Five of them lost the election; the sixth was Frank B. Willis of the GOP, a native of Lewis Center in Delaware County, who was elected to the Senate in November 1920 but was later selected by Governor Harry L. Davis to fill the remaining weeks of Harding’s tenure after Harding departed the Senate early to take a job in the White House.
Perhaps the past is pointless because, given the (intentionally) distracting antics of President Donald Trump’s administration, American politics suddenly appear to be a-historical. However, the appointed senators’ election-day records aren’t that impressive.
Then there’s this: The incumbent party, in this case Trump’s GOP, usually loses a few congressional seats at every presidential midterm election. Brown may profit from that as well.
Importantly, Husted was unquestionably connected to FirstEnergy’s previous management, even though he has never been accused of any misconduct in relation to the General Assembly’s House Bill 6/FirstEnergy Corp. scandal, which is likely the largest attempted Statehouse rip-off in Ohio history.
Husted also had a long-standing friendship with then-House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican from Perry County who was at the heart of the HB 6 scandal (and is currently a guest of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons). However, their conflicting aspirations for higher office caused the Householder-Husted friendship to wane.
When it came to Brown, the Ohio Democratic organization—if it can be called that—that Brown essentially controlled went to great lengths to secure his reelection in November of last year. but was unsuccessful.
It is true that Brown received a larger percentage of the statewide vote than the Democratic presidential ticket of Harris and Waldz (43.9%). Nevertheless, despite his admirably persistent bipartisan attempt to restore full pension benefits to over 21,000 salaried employees of General Motors spinoff Delphi, including about 5,200 Ohioans, Brown lost once-bedrock-Democratic counties like Trumbull (Warren) in that instance by 5,000 votes. Barack Obama’s General Motors bailout effectively permitted the pension decrease, which is a disgrace to his record. According to Warren’s Tribune Chronicle, the Mahoning Valley alone has seen a loss of over $100 million in pension payments from paid Delphi employees. Husted has reintroduced Brown’s bill to restore the Delphi pensions, which is co-sponsored by Dayton GOP Rep. Mike Turner. Moreno is one of the co-sponsors.
Despite all of Brown’s pro-worker actions, some labor leaders in Ohio argue that he ought to challenge Vikram Ramaswamy of the GOP for governor the next year. Additionally, the lackluster labor excitement for a Brown Senate race is a caution sign for him.
From Athens, editorial board member Thomas Suddes writes.
Thomas Suddes can be reached at [email protected].
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