Race Outcome: Won

---

Sherrod Brown’s long record of fighting for collective bargaining rights for working Americans and against corporate tax loopholes that help companies ship jobs overseas has made the senator a top target of  Karl Rove and the Koch brothers.

In what may be the most lopsided Senate race of 2012, Brown isn’t near matching the $12 million super PACs and right-wing groups have spent opposing him so far.  And that same conservative opposition reportedly has another $7 million to spend before Election Day.

A longtime ally, 21st Century Democrats provided Brown active support in his Senate election in 2006. One of our first endorsees, we first helped this true progressive win his House seat in 1992.

---

Progressive Credentials:

• Advocate for closing loopholes that allow companies to offshore jobs
• Refuses to take congressional health care coverage until affordable health insurance is available to all citizens
• Calls for imposing reasonable payment limits to prevent wealthy farmers from securing federal subsidies
• Introduced the Program for Offshore Wind Energy Research and Development (POWERED) Act of 2010 to encourage the development of the offshore wind energy sector

 

Why We Like Him: A leader on health care reform, Senator Brown fought for provisions to provide small businesses health insurance tax credits for offering coverage to their employees. He also championed cracking down on huge health insurance markups, cutting the cost of prescription drugs for seniors who fall into the Medicare “donut hole,” and offering free physicals and other preventive services to Medicare beneficiaries.

Candidate Quote: “Too often we hear, in the final days of pushing passage of a trade agreement, how important the agreement is to strategic foreign policy interests – and we don’t hear about jobs, the middle class, and our standard of living. We should export American products, not American jobs.”

Candidate Website: http://www.sherrodbrown.com/

On the Banking Committee, Senator Brown was an early proponent for addressing the housing markets crisis. His focus is on fighting to ensure that efforts to rebuild the economy focus on Main Street as well as Wall Street, and that the federal government gives as much attention to manufacturing as it does to finance.

As a leader on health care reform, he refused to accept the congressional health care plan until affordable health insurance was available to all citizens. And he continues to fight insurance company and pharmaceutical company lobbyists in order to make health care more affordable for seniors, workers and small businesses.

Prior to serving in Congress, Senator Brown served two terms as Ohio’s Secretary of State. In the early 1990s, he taught democracy and government in Poland as that nation was making the transition from Cold War communism to a thriving democracy. He also taught in Ohio’s public schools and at the Ohio State University.

 

---