PIKE COUNTY, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — As the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago entered its final day, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown was in southern Ohio campaigning in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.
Brown was in Pike County to attend the groundbreaking of a middle school being built with federal funds to replace one that was closed over concerns about radioactive contamination from the shuttered uranium processing plant in Piketon. Brown then stopped to talk to volunteers campaigning for him in Chillicothe, where his Republican opponent Bernie Moreno launched a bus tour on Aug. 5.
Brown said he skipped the convention for a simple reason: “I spent the week talking to Ohioans. There are a lot more Ohioans in Ohio than there are in Chicago.”
Brown announced a few weeks ago that he would not attend the Democratic National Convention, even though he has been attending conventions since 1996 and was a keynote speaker in 2016. Another Democratic incumbent in a close race in a Republican state, U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), also skipped the convention.
Ohio Republicans put up “Missing” signs in Chicago saying Brown skipped the convention to cover up his progressive stance. But Brown said he supports Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’ll campaign with her or with Tim Walz,” Brown said. “I think they probably won’t spend a lot of time here because we’re not the swing state we were. But if my schedule allows, I will, of course I will.”
Last week, Moreno criticized Brown for suggesting he could campaign with Harris and Walz, calling them “the most radical presidential candidate team in history.”
The race between Brown and Moreno is already likely the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Ohio history, with both candidates spending heavily and money pouring in from outside groups.
“They’re going to spend more money than I do. That’s why those 30 or 40 volunteers who are taking time, knocking on doors, making phone calls, signing postcards, talking to their friends, are really important because we’re going to be working harder than them. There are a lot more of us than there are of them,” Brown said.
According to Open Secrets, a website that tracks money in politics, Ohio’s Senate race is the second most expensive in the country, with candidates and outside groups having spent $104 million so far.
