By: Team Sherrod

Today, the Columbus Dispatch endorsed Sherrod for re-election, citing his “proven performance,” and his “focus and work ethic.” The Dispatch praised Sherrod’s bipartisan work with Senator Portman, his work to shore up the pensions of thousands of Ohioans, and his credibility on key committees that benefit Ohio.

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Columbus Dispatch: Editorial Endorsement – For US Senate: Keep Sherrod Brown working for Ohioans

Editorial Board – September 24, 2018

Key Points:

• In Ohio’s contentious race for U.S. Senate, we support the proven performance of Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s Democratic senior senator, as worthy of a third six-year term.
• Jim Renacci, a Republican U.S. representative from Wadsworth and self-described “turn-around business guy,” would like to turn Brown out. We see no need to oust a proven leader, one of Ohio’s longest-serving elected officials.
• Brown, 65, has a focus and work ethic that has enabled him to build credibility and support in Congress that has served the state well. He is the first Ohio senator to serve on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry in decades and is on the 2018 farm bill conference committee — key positions in a state where agriculture is a top industry.
• The Mansfield native and Cleveland resident also has developed expertise in banking and finance issues, serving as the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and ranking member of the finance committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions and Family Policy. He also serves on the veterans’ affairs committee and co-chairs the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans.
• In that latter capacity, the joint committee Brown helped to create will soon seek a critical vote on a proposal to prevent a potentially catastrophic failure of union pension funds impacting some 10 million Americans, including an estimated 66,000 Ohioans. Failure of the pension funds has been identified as a $101 billion liability, but Brown creatively proposes a loan program to preserve retirees’ pensions with no taxpayer support and at less than half the $78 billion price tag estimated if taxpayers were asked to prop up the funds.
• That Rob Portman, Ohio’s junior Republican senator, is also working on the joint select pension committee demonstrates Brown’s ability to work in bipartisan fashion for the best interests of Ohioans. It is one of multiple efforts they have worked on together.
• It’s bad enough that Renacci tries to ride #MeToo coattails from the decades-old divorce while ignoring the fact that Brown’s ex-wife has supported all his Senate bids. Making it worse is that Renacci gives Trump a pass for similar divorce allegations as well as multiple sexual-misconduct claims from other women.
• We prefer to keep Sherrod Brown working for Ohio in the U.S. Senate.

Read the full endorsement editorial here.