Sherrod Brown

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Sherrod Brown
Junior Senator from Ohio
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2007– Serving with George Voinovich
Preceded by	Mike DeWine
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2013)
Born	November 09, 1952 (age 54) Mansfield, Ohio
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Connie Schultz
Religion	Lutheran

Sherrod Campbell Brown (born November 9, 1952) is the Democratic Junior United States Senator from the state of Ohio. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served 14 years in the United States House of Representatives, and eight years as the Ohio Secretary of State.

[edit] Early life

Brown was born in Mansfield, Ohio to Emily Campbell and Charles Gailey Brown, M.D.^[1] He became an Eagle Scout in 1967. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian studies from Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) in 1974. At Yale, he was in Davenport College, the same residential college as U.S. Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush. He went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in education and public administration from The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) in 1981. He taught at the Mansfield branch campus of Ohio State University from 1979 to 1981.

[edit] Career in politics

[edit] State politics

Brown served as an Ohio state representative from 1975 to 1982. He was one of the youngest state representatives in Ohio history, and supposedly, shortly after taking office, he was mistaken for an intern and asked to fetch coffee by a staffer. In 1982, he won a four-way Democratic primary that included Dennis Kucinich, now a Cleveland Congressman, then defeated Republican Virgil Brown in the general election for the office of Ohio Secretary of State, succeeding Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.. In 1986, Brown won re-election as secretary of state, defeating Vincent C. Campanella. In 1990, Brown lost when trying for a third term as secretary of state to Republican Bob Taft.

Sen. Brown listens as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) comments regarding the upcoming vote regarding the War in Iraq on the Senate floor. On the shoulder of Reid, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) walks as Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) listens on.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

In 1992, Brown won the Democratic primary for Ohio's 13th district, located in the western and southern suburbs of Cleveland, after eight-term incumbent Don Pease announced his retirement. The strongly Democratic-leaning district gave him an easy win over a little known, underfunded Republican. He was re-elected six times, never facing substantive opposition.

Brown was an Ohio delegate to the 2000 Democratic National Convention. He was an unpledged delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Brown was the ranking minority member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee. He also served on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. As a member of the House International Relations Committee, he also served on the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. He was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

In 2001, the Republican-controlled legislature threatened to draw Brown's district out from under him. Brown threatened to run for governor in 2002 against incumbent Bob Taft. The Republicans backed down, and in fact made his district even more heavily Democratic by adding most of Akron and drawing out Geauga and Portage counties.

In 2005, Brown led the Democratic effort to block the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). For many months, Brown worked as whip on the issue, securing Democratic "nay" votes and seeking Republican allies. After several delays, the House of Representatives finally voted on CAFTA after midnight on July 28, 2005. The Republican leadership kept the roll call open well past the 15 minute standard, and the House approved CAFTA by a vote of 217 to 215. CAFTA effectively passed by one vote - a tie would have resulted in a defeat.

Brown cited this stinging outcome as the impetus for the next stage of his career: running for the U.S. Senate.

[edit] 2006 Senate campaign

Main article: Ohio United States Senate election, 2006

In August 2005, Brown announced he would not run for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Mike DeWine.^[2] In October, however, Brown reconsidered his decision to enter the ring.^[3] This announcement came shortly after Democrat Paul Hackett also stated that he would soon announce his candidacy.

On February 13, 2006, Hackett withdrew from the race, all but ensuring that Brown would win the Democratic nomination. In the May 2 primary, Brown won 78.05% of the Democratic vote. His opponent, Merrill Samuel Keiser, Jr., received 21.95% of the vote.^[4]

Whilst in the middle of his Senate campaign in April 2006 Brown, along with John Conyers, brought an action against George W. Bush and others alleging violations of the Constitution in the passing of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.^[5] The case (Conyers v. Bush) was ultimately dismissed.^[6]

On November 7, 2006, Brown faced two-term incumbent senator DeWine in the general election. By 2:17 A.M. on November 8, most major television networks had declared Brown the winner against DeWine. Brown won the seat with 56% of the vote to DeWine's 44%.[1]

[edit] Subject of negative campaigning

One of DeWine's ads, aired in October 2006, suggests that opponent Sherrod Brown did not pay an unemployment tax bill for 13 years. This claim led to the Associated Press reporting on October 19, 2006 that, "Several Ohio television stations have stopped airing a Republican ad because state documents contradict the ad's accusation that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown didn't pay an unemployment tax bill for 13 years." Brown has produced a commercial citing these facts. [2] Citing a clerical error, Brown actually paid the $1,700 bill, which was due in 1993, in April 1994. However, this clerical error made it appear as if he had not paid this bill. Brown did not pay the bill until he was forced to by law.[3]

Brown was the subject of a misunderstanding by Rush Limbaugh on his radio program on February 14, 2006. Commenting on Hackett's withdrawal from the Senate race the previous day, Limbaugh declared there was a racial element to that withdrawal, making that statement on the erroneous assumption that Brown was black. (Limbaugh apparently perceived "Sherrod", with the pronunciation of "Shurr-odd", as a more common name among African-Americans than among whites.) He was corrected and withdrew his statement later in the same program.^[7]

[edit] Family

Brown's wife, Connie Schultz, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who recently returned from leave at Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper. Schultz took this leave of absence due to the conflict of interest between her job as a newspaper employee and her support for her husband's campaign.[4] Brown's daughter Emily works for the Service Employees International Union. His daughter Elizabeth is a senior at Columbia University, and his stepdaughter Caitlin is a sophomore at John Carroll University. His stepson Andrew C. Gard is a doctoral student (Ph.D., Mathematics) at The Ohio State University. Brown and his family are Lutherans. They reside in Avon, Lorain County, Ohio.

[edit] Electoral history

2006 General Election

2004 Congressional Election

2002 Congressional Election

2000 Congressional Election

1998 Congressional Election

1996 Congressional Election

1994 Congressional Election

1992 Congressional Election

1990 General Election

1986 General Election

1982 General Election

[edit] Author

Brown is the author of two books:

• Congress from the Inside: Observations from the Majority and the Minority ISBN 0-87338-630-2
• Myths of Free Trade: Why American Trade Policy Has Failed ISBN 1-56584-928-0

[edit] See also

• Ohio United States Senate elections
• Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 13th District
• List of United States Representatives from Ohio

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• United States Senator Sherrod Brown official Senate site
• Sherrod Brown's Blog at Huffington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission - Sherrod Brown campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues - Sherrod Brown issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org - Sherrod Brown campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart - Senator Sherrod C. Brown (OH) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia - Sherrod Brown profile
• Washington Post - Congress Votes Database: Sherrod Brown voting record
• About.com - Sherrod Brown profile
• USA TODAY - Sherrod Brown profile
• Sherrod Brown for US Senate official campaign site
• County map of 2006 Ohio Senate election results