Former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his seat in November but may attempt a comeback for Senator or Governor in 2026 in a state that has now transformed into a reliable Republican domain, recently published a long 4,000+ word essay in the New Republic magazine in which he offers the Democratic Party a new path forward.
In the article, Brown writes, “Democrats must reckon with how far our party has strayed from our New Deal roots. How we see ourselves—the party of the people, the party of the working class and the middle class—no longer matches up with what most voters think.”
One of his situational remedies is that “Democrats need to become the workers’ party again. To do that, we need to better understand workers and their lives, and we need to have ordinary workers more actively involved in the party and its decisions.”
While Brown’s message toward the working class may have political attractiveness, this same theme landed on deaf ears throughout the very areas of Ohio that his revised message targets. In the 2024 Senate race, which he lost to Republican Bernie Moreno 50.1% – 46.5%, the then-incumbent Democrat could only manage to carry eight of the state’s 88 counties.
Seven of those eight domains, all in Ohio’s metropolitan counties and containing the cities of Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo, also voted for Kamala Harris. In fact, the only rural, coal county that both Harris and Brown carried was Athens County, found along the West Virginia border. The lone county that Brown won, where Harris lost, was Lorain County, a western suburban Cleveland entity that Brown represented during his seven-term tenure in the U.S. House. All of Ohio’s other 80 counties voted for both Messrs. Trump and Moreno.
Mr. Brown might be on the right track in terms of where the Democratic Party needs to position itself in the future: not supporting illegal migrants, men playing in women’s sports and increased government spending to further empower Washington.
Having lost re-election in 2024, the former senator has read the post-election polls and is acting accordingly. Regardless, he is likely to dislike what he reads.
According to Gallup, a plurality (45%) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they want the Democratic Party to be more moderate. That is, less progressive and less likely to blow elections.
This is where the poll numbers become disquieting for Democrats: Nearly half (45%) of the 49% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents who self-identify as “liberal” want the party to become more liberal. Meanwhile, a solid majority (62%) of self-identifying Democratic moderates (43% of Democrats) want the party to become more moderate.
In the aftermath of Harris’ decisive 2024 defeat and the Republican takeover of the Senate, the Democratic Party is utterly divided and engaged in a mini-civil war for party control.
Witness the furious Democrat backlash and the mounting calls from progressives for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to primary Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the aftermath of the senator’s support for legislation to prevent a government shutdown.
What is an aspiring, seasoned Democratic politician like Brown to do? In short, he must straddle both sides of the divide or be relegated to political obscurity.
Is Brown mouthing what he must to win re-nomination and election, or does he actually believe what he’s writing?
A review of Brown’s time in Senate reveals that while he publicly touts political moderation, his voting history reflects consistent support for radical leftist policies.
Brown knows what he must do to secure nomination, and he is acting appropriately. Despite his progressive past, his moderate rhetoric may just earn him another term in the Senate.
And that’s the problem. Electing a self-declared “moderate” like Brown to the Senate empowers progressive Democrats who, despite the wishes of a substantial number of Democrats, have little inclination to moderate their agenda.
James Carter is a Principal with Navigators Global. He previously headed President-elect Donald Trump’s tax team during the 2016-17 transition and served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Jim Ellis is the founder of the Ellis Insight election analysis service.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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