Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced Thursday that he will not run for president in 2020, just after completing a tour of early caucus and primary states.
Brown said in a statement that he was confident other candidates would adopt his political mantra — "the dignity of work" — and that he would continue working against President Donald Trump in the Senate instead of joining the crowded Democratic primary field.
"We’ve seen candidates begin taking up the dignity of work fight, and we have seen voters across the country demanding it — because dignity of work is a value that unites all of us," Brown said in the statement. "It is how we beat Trump, and it is how we should govern."
Brown’s allies saw him as a potential rival to former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic field, and Brown is the second high-profile potential candidate in days — following former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — to drop out of the running as Biden draws closer to his own 2020 decision. Biden was a factor in Bloomberg’s calculations before the former mayor announced Tuesday that he would sit out the presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, Biden is beefing up his political operation, hiring Cristobal Alex, the head of the influential Latino Victory Fund.
Brown told reporters at the Capitol that Biden had "zero impact" on his decision. And Brown’s unique background might have cut across different lanes in the Democratic primary.
After winning multiple statewide elections in battleground Ohio, including a tough reelection last year, Brown had gained attention as a possible national candidate, and he was considered as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Brown framed his prospective campaign as one that could rally both progressives and white working-class voters who voted for Trump in 2016, especially in the Midwest.
“I just wish there more Midwesterners" in the presidential race, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Thursday. "I’m more depressed by the news that Sherrod’s not getting in than anything else.”
Long considered an unapologetic progressive, Brown refused to fully embrace popular liberal policy proposals like Medicare for All as he considered a presidential run. But he said he could stack up his long record in the House and Senate against all of his potential 2020 rivals.
“If I get in this race, I’d be the only Democrat on this stage I think that voted against the Iraq War or voted against the Defense of Marriage Act and voted against NAFTA and has a lifetime ‘F’ from the NRA, so I don’t worry about progressive bona fides,” Brown said in Iowa last month.
Following his 2018 race, Brown directed his political team to begin looking into a possible campaign, and his chief of staff, Sarah Benzing, was prepared to take over as his national campaign manager. Justin Barasky, a longtime aide who managed Brown’s last Senate campaign, was in the mix as well.
Brown visited Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina test-driving his political message at the beginning of the year, while allies in Ohio set up a political action committee aimed at drafting Brown into the race. He said he plans to keep pushing his message on the Democrats who are running for president.
Brown considered running in 2020 "to change the narrative and to encourage other candidates to talk about the dignity of work, whether you punch a clock or whether you’re raising kids," he said at the Capitol. "I’ve heard increasingly, other candidates talking about the dignity of work and in that sense it was mission accomplished."
"I’m not even close to an endorsement," Brown continued. "I’m going to talk to every candidate, starting on the floor today with one. I will talk to every candidate about the dignity of work."
James Arkin and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.
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