Sherrod Brown

"Sherrod" redirects here. For other people named Sherrod, see Sherrod (disambiguation).

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator from Ohio
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2007 Serving with George Voinovich
Preceded by	Mike DeWine
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 13th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Don Pease
Succeeded by	Betty Sutton
47th Ohio Secretary of State
In office 1983–1991
Governor	Dick Celeste
Preceded by	Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.
Succeeded by	Bob Taft
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
In office 1974–1982
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Larke Ummel Brown (div. 1987) Connie Schultz
Children	Emily Brown Elizabeth Brown
Residence	Avon, Ohio
Alma mater	Ohio State University (M.A.) Yale University (B.A.)
Occupation	Teacher

Sherrod Campbell Brown (born November 9, 1952) is the junior United States Senator from Ohio and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007. He previously served as Ohio Secretary of State (1983-1991) and a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1974–1982).

Brown defeated two-term Republican incumbent Mike DeWine in the 2006 U.S. Senate election. In the U.S. Senate, he is chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms and the Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy, and is also a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and Select Committee on Ethics.

Early life

Brown was born in Mansfield, Ohio to Emily Campbell and Charles Gailey Brown, M.D. He was named after his maternal grandfather. He became an Eagle Scout in 1967. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian studies from Yale University 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 in (Columbus) in 1981. He taught at the Mansfield branch campus of Ohio State University from 1979 to 1981.

Career in politics

State politics

Brown served as an Ohio state representative from 1974 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.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1992, Brown moved from Mansfield to Lorain, Ohio and won the heavily contested Democratic primary for an open seat in Ohio's 13th district, located in the western and southern suburbs of Cleveland, after eight-term incumbent Don Pease announced his retirement. The Democratic-leaning district gave him an easy win over the little known Republican Margaret R. Mueller. He was re-elected six times, never facing substantive opposition with the exception of during the Republican landslide of 1994 when his opponent was a popular long-time local prosecutor.

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.

2006 Senate campaign

Main article: Ohio United States Senate election, 2006

Brown hosts a panel of advisers to Barack Obama's presidential campaign during the first day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

In August 2005, Brown announced he would not run for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Mike DeWine. In October, however, Brown reconsidered his decision to enter the ring. 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.

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. The case (Conyers v. Bush) was ultimately dismissed for 'lack of standing'.

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

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. [1] 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. [2]

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" as a more common name among African-Americans than among whites.) He was corrected and withdrew his statement later in the same program.

On Issues

Brown is consistently one of the most liberal members of Congress, particularly on opposition to free trade, but has voted with conservatives on a small number of major issues.

Iraq War

Sherrod Brown has been consistently against the war in Iraq since taking office in 2007. He voted against the $87 billion war budgetary supplement. He also voted for redeploying US troops out of Iraq by March 2008. As a member of the House of Representatives, Brown voted against the original Iraq War resolution.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights

Sherrod Brown is a strong advocate of gay rights. He opposed an amendment to Ohio's constitution that banned same sex marriage. Brown was also one of the few U.S. Representatives to vote against the then highly popular Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. He also voted against prohibiting gay adoptions in Washington DC, and received a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign.

Health Care

In 2007 Senators Brown and Sam Brownback (R-KS) sponsored an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007. President George W. Bush signed the bill in September 2007. The amendment created a prize as an incentive for companies to invest in new drugs and vaccines for neglected tropical diseases. It awards a transferable “Priority Review Voucher” to any company that obtains approval for a treatment for a neglected tropical disease. This provision adds to the market based incentives available for the development of new medicines for developing world diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and African sleeping sickness. The prize was proposed by Duke University faculty Henry Grabowski, Jeffrey Moe, and David Ridley in their 2006 Health Affairs paper: "Developing Drugs for Developing Countries."

Family

Brown's wife, Connie Schultz, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper. Brown's daughter Emily works for the Service Employees International Union, daughter Elizabeth was an editorial assistant at New York Magazine and is currently a communication staff person for the Ohio House Democratic Caucus, and stepdaughter Caitlin is a senior at John Carroll University. Stepson Andrew C. Gard is a doctoral student (Ph.D., Mathematics) at Ohio State University. Brown's sister-in-law Anne M. Swanson is among the most respected communications attorneys in Washington D.C.. Brown and his family are Lutherans. They reside in Avon, Lorain County, Ohio.

Books authored

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

Committee assignments

• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection and Price Support
  • Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms (Chairman)
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Economic Policy (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development
  • Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Children and Families
  • Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• Select Committee on Ethics

Electoral history

Ohio's 13th congressional district: Results 1992–2004

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct
1992		Sherrod Brown	134,486	53%		Margaret R. Mueller	88,889	35%		Mark Miller	Independent	20,320	8%		Tom Lawson	Independent	4,719	2%	*
1994		Sherrod Brown	93,147	49%		Gregory A. White	86,422	46%		Howard Mason	Independent	7,777	4%		John M. Ryan	Independent	2,430	1%
1996		Sherrod Brown	148,690	61%		Kenneth C. Blair, Jr.	87,108	36%		David Kluter	Natural Law	8,707	4%
1998		Sherrod Brown	116,309	62%		Grace L. Drake	72,666	38%
2000		Sherrod Brown	170,058	65%		Rick H. Jeric	84,295	32%		Michael Chmura	Libertarian	5,837	2%		David Kluter	Natural Law	3,108	1%
2002		Sherrod Brown	123,025	69%		Ed Oliveros	55,357	31%
2004		Sherrod Brown	201,004	67%		Robert Lucas	97,090	33%

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1992, Werner J. Lange received 3,844 votes (2%).

U.S. Senate (Class I) elections in Ohio: 2006 results

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct
2006		Sherrod Brown	2,257,369	56%		Mike DeWine	1,761,037	44%	*

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2006, Richard Duncan received 830 votes.

See also

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

External links

• United States Senator Sherrod Brown official Senate site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• SourceWatch Congresspedia– Sherrod Brown profile
• About.com– Sherrod Brown profile
• USA TODAY– Sherrod Brown profile
• Sherrod Brown for US Senate official campaign site
• Sherrod Brown's Blog at Huffington Post
• County map of 2006 Ohio Senate election results