How did Sherrod Brown win re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2018 in a state Donald Trump had just carried by eight points, and where Republicans swept every other statewide race?
In a chapter for The Liberal Heartland, University of Dayton political scientist Christopher Devine examines Brown’s campaign that ran on an unapologetically liberal record with a working-class message.
Brown is wagering his 2026 comeback on the same formula, after losing his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024.
“What made Brown’s 2018 victory extraordinary, and potentially instructive for Democrats, is that he overcame state, regional and national disadvantages while running as an unapologetic progressive,” Devine writes.
Devine notes that Brown used hardhat ads at Ohio steel plants, decades of opposition to free-trade deals and a relentless focus on workers versus Wall Street. Although Brown ranked more liberal than 87% of U.S. senators, Ohio voters on average perceived him as less liberal than the Democratic Party as a whole. He won when colleagues in Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri all lost.
But Devine is careful not to overstate the lesson. Brown ran as an incumbent in a Democratic wave year, against an underfunded opponent, in a state more racially diverse than Iowa or Wisconsin. Tim Ryan tried a similar working-class message in 2022 and lost to J.D. Vance by nearly seven points.
“There is good reason to wonder whether Brown represents a replicable model or a dying breed,” Devine said.
Devine is a leading expert on the American presidency and political campaigns. His books include I’m Here to Ask for Your Vote: How Presidential Campaign Visits Influence Voters and Do Running Mates Matter? The Influence of Vice Presidential Candidates in Presidential Elections. He is also co-editor of Second in Command: Reevaluating the Role of Vice Presidents and Running Mates in Modern American Politics.
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