WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

Brown’s endorsement could matter among Ohio primary voters next March as Clinton vies with Bernie Sanders for the party’s nomination. Brown has long embraced the progressive label, taking positions more often affiliated with colleagues such as Sanders, of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts than with moderates such as Clinton.

Yet as she campaigns for president, Clinton has called for some of the same safeguards and protections as Brown, particularly with her recent opposition to the pending Trans Pacific Partnership.

She also recently called for getting tougher on financial abuses and excessive risk-taking by banks, supporting regulatory or legislative changes that could affect the nation’s largest depository institutions.

Brown has long staked positions against foreign trade deals that, he says, cost Americans their jobs, including deals crafted or implemented under Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. The top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, Brown says government must provide a safety net and watchful eye to protect citizens from the greed of Wall Street banks, from factories that risk worker and consumer safety, and from drug companies that put profits above patients.

Republicans have long described Brown as among the most liberal senators, on the end of a spectrum that includes Sanders.

But Brown today is endorsing Clinton, a former senator from New York and former secretary of state.

“As Ohio’s working families continue to recover from the worst economic recession in our country’s history, we need a president who’s committed to growing our economy by lifting up the middle class,” Brown said in a statement. “From opposing unfair trade deals to fighting for a fair financial system, Hillary Clinton has shown she puts working families first. She knows as president that her first job will be creating jobs for the middle class. I am proud to endorse her today because I know she will keep Ohio moving forward.​”