U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is considering a 2020 presidential run, said Sunday that a Democratic presidential candidate hoping to win Ohio should have a message aimed at workers and their needs.
The Ohio Democrat repeated in an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he hasn’t yet decided whether he will run, but said he believes more attention must be paid to workers.
“Too many people in this country work hard every day, pay their dues, never get ahead, don’t have the kind of retirement security they need,” Brown said.
The 66-year-old senator led all Ohio vote-getters Nov. 6 to win re-election to a third Senate term while Republicans swept other key statewide offices. Brown said he won because he talked about the dignity of work and of honoring people and respecting work.
Whether he runs or not, Brown said he hopes that message will become a part of the narrative among all of his Democratic colleagues who want to be president.
He believes a Democratic presidential candidate focusing on such a message could carry the state of Ohio.
“The Democratic Party has always been the party of ‘we have your back,’ of working families,” he said.
The Cleveland Democrat has said previously that he is listening to calls for him to run from national Democratic Party figures as well as other politicians and labor leaders, but has not decided.
He declined to say Sunday when he might make a decision on a potential presidential candidacy, adding that he has “no real timetable.”
“It’s an intensely personal decision with my wife and my children,” said Brown.
Josh Pasek, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, told The Associated Press this month that there are “a lot of competing visions” in the Democratic Party at this point, and it’s not clear yet where Brown fits in.
