Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown considering presidential bid
Fresh off of a commanding victory in a reddening Ohio, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is flirting with a presidential bid in 2020.
Brown told The Columbus Dispatch on Monday that he's heard "sort of a crescendo" of people discussing him running for president, admitting that the interest has prompted him to think about running but that he and his wife are "not close to saying yes."
Brown's wife, columnist Connie Schultz, tweeted the Dispatch's story out with the comment "we're thinking about it."
Brown's convincing reelection victory in a state where Republicans swept the other statewide offices as well as every competitive House race has some Democrats believing Brown could be one of the few capable to fire up progressives while threading the needle in the Midwest.
The senator argued during his victory rally last week that Democrats should look to his campaign for inspiration about how to reach out to everyday Americans.
"Let our country — our nation’s citizens, our Democratic Party, my fellow elected officials all over the country — let them all cast their eyes toward the heartland, to the industrial Midwest, to our Great Lakes state. Let them hear what we say. Let them see what we do," Brown said.
"We will show America how we celebrate organized labor and all workers — the waitress in Dayton, the office worker in Toledo, the nurse in Columbus, the mineworker in Coshocton. That is the message coming out of Ohio in 2018, and that is the blueprint for our nation in 2020.”
If he runs, Brown will join what's expected to be a crowded field that includes some prominent Senate colleagues as well as Democrats across the country looking to fill the power vacuum within the party's leadership ranks.
Here's Brown speaking with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" just hours before the Dispatch report broke, an interview where he also referred to his campaign as a "blueprint" to help the party "prepare for 2020."