‘Whose side are you on?’ Sen. Brown says Democrats must focus on working class to win

With Republicans winning the White House and both chambers of Congress, there’s been much discussion within the Democratic Party about what went wrong and what it should do to win back voters. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is one of the incumbents who came up short this year and has argued the party needs to do more to champion the issues of the working class. He joined Amna Nawaz to discuss more.
Amna Nawaz:
The Senate map heavily favored Republicans this election cycle, so it came as little surprise when Democrats lost the majority in the Upper Chamber.
In fact, just tonight, Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania officially conceded his race. But with Republicans also winning the White House and retaining control of the House of Representatives, there’s been a lot of talk within the Democratic Party about what went wrong and what it should do to win back voters.
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio is one of the incumbents who came up short this year and has argued the party needs to do more to champion the issues of the working class. I spoke with him earlier today.
Senator Sherrod Brown, welcome to the “News Hour.” Thanks for being here.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH):
Glad to be here. Thank you.
Amna Nawaz:
I got to ask you about your election loss, because it really calcified for a lot of people that the Democratic Party had lost working Americans as a core part of their base.
And it’s surprising in your case because you have spent your entire career talking about working families and serving working Americans. It’s been a central theme for you, even as your state drifted red. So why do you think that message in Ohio, why did it fail to resonate with voters this time around?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Well, it did resonate. I ran way ahead of the national ticket. I ran seven or eight points ahead of the national ticket.
But it’s been a slow migration away from the Democratic Party and American workers starting with NAFTA. And since then, Democrats don’t talk enough about workers, don’t put workers at the center of what we should be doing. And my career has been working to do that.
And my post-career, whatever it is, my post-Senate career, I will continue to do that. How do we make the Democratic Party the party of workers again? Because every we have — not entirely, but we have much lost that.
Amna Nawaz:
But in your state, people know you. It’s a central theme for you. And it still wasn’t a winning message. So do you feel like you lost this time because of Bernie Moreno, your opponent, or because you’re a Democrat?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I lost mostly because I was a Democrat. I don’t — I’m not really judging him, but they spent $220 million against me. That was literally 20 times what Mike DeWine spent as a senator in 2006, when I beat him. So it’s a huge cascading of money in.
The ads they ran about transgender and immigration were proven to be lies. The last two weeks, Donald Trump got on TV in their ads saying a vote for Sherrod Brown is a vote against Donald Trump. So when the top of the ticket — I’m not whining here, but when the top of the ticket wins, on top of my ticket loses by 12 points, it’s awfully hard to overcome that.
But it just tells me that the Democratic Party over the last 30 years, our — the reputation of the party as a whole is that we have not — we — betray is too wrong — is too strong a word. But back — I still hear people in the Miami Valley, Dayton, and Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley still talk about NAFTA.
I grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, where I went to school with the sons and daughters — name of my junior — I was Johnny Appleseed Junior High with the sons and daughters of machinists and electricians and steelworkers and autoworkers and rubber workers. And those jobs first went south because corporate leaders are always willing to seek cheaper wages, especially in non-union states.
And then politicians of both parties sold out those workers by passing these trade agreements that caused a huge cascading of jobs overseas. And these communities, these workers did nothing wrong. They were productive. They carried union cards. Their lives were mostly middle class. And those days are gone.
I mean, we have seen — in the last 30 years, we have seen profits go up. We have seen executive compensation skyrocket. We have seen the stock market go up and we have seen wages flat.
Amna Nawaz:
But you’re saying they blame Democrats for this. They look at those trends and blame your party.
(Crosstalk)
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Yes, it’s not entirely clear, but, frankly, the voters expect Republicans to be corporate, to look out for their rich friends.
But Democrats — we didn’t expect that with Democrats. The voters expect Democrats to stand with workers. And when you don’t, the disappointment is such that people move away.
Amna Nawaz:
Let me ask you, because I know you and other Senate Democrats met with Harris campaign officials on Capitol Hill today, my understanding is the first time since the election, and that meeting included the campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon.
What can you tell us about what those conversations were about?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Well, I don’t talk about private meetings like that, so I’m not going to…
(Crosstalk)
Amna Nawaz:
Was that a meeting that Senate Democrats had requested or that the campaign…
(Crosstalk)
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I have no idea. It’s a regular lunch. They came in. I didn’t even know they were coming. I mean, I think the leader announced it.
But — and I’m not going to — I never, ever talk about what happens in the Democratic Caucus. I know you as media people often find out, because I have colleagues that talk too much. And I’m not one of them in this case.
Amna Nawaz:
Can you give us a sense of if this was more of a listening session or a venting session for Senate Republicans?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I’m telling you all I’m going to tell you. Sorry. Let’s go on and let’s try another one.
(LAUGHTER)
Amna Nawaz:
OK.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
You’re a good reporter and a good interviewer, but sorry.
Amna Nawaz:
Not that good, apparently.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
No, you’re pretty good.
Amna Nawaz:
Well, look, we know the conversations for many Democrats I talk to, people say those conversations about what happened, what went wrong need to unfold, that people need to take time and figure this out.
But on the timeline of it, how do you look at that? Because House Democrats need to figure out what kind of stance they’re going to be taking with the incoming majority with Republicans in the House, right? The midterms aren’t that far off. So how do you look at this period of autopsy, of figuring out what went wrong?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Well, the mistake that perhaps journalists, certainly politicians make is that politics is left to right, liberal, conservative. For me, it’s who side you on?
And it means standing up for pensions. We passed — one of the things we have done the last four years is save the pensions of 100,000 workers. We have capped the price of insulin at $35. We passed a major bill that a million veterans have benefited from that were exposed to those football-field sized burn pits named after an Ohio.
We — just look at inflation. I mean, when Connie and I often go to the — we usually go to the grocery store after church and…
Amna Nawaz:
Connie, your wife, we should say, yes.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Yes, Connie, my wife.
And when we’re walking down the aisle, one of the aisles, there were — at the meat counter at the check online, people talk to me about inflation.
Amna Nawaz:
Yes.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I mean, they knew I am. They talk about inflation.
And the answer most of the time is that you’re paying — those higher prices you’re paying because of corporate profits, because of stock buybacks, because of executive compensation. And we have got to make — we have got to make that clear that — I have built my whole career taking on interest groups, taking on the drug companies, take — holding Wall Street accountable.
That’s what the voters respond to. It also happens to be the right position in government to take them on. But, again, look at stock prices way up in the last 30 years, the profits way up, executive compensation way up, wages flat. There’s a reason for that.
And that is too many politicians, almost all Republicans and a number of Democrats, have played too cozy with these special interests, period. And so when Connie and I made the decision two-plus years ago to run for reelection, I knew they were going to spend a lot of money…
Amna Nawaz:
Yes.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
… because they want to beat people like me that stand up to — the drug companies want to beat us, the tobacco companies, the companies that outsource jobs, Wall Street. They don’t want people like me in office. I understand that.
That’s why they spend that money. I beat them in the past. And I will beat them one way or another the next time.
Amna Nawaz:
We know in this election the economy mattered. We also know that the incumbent played a role and lingering frustration with the Biden administration.
You have had a few days, few weeks to reflect now. And I wonder if you think, should President Biden have run for that second term in the first place?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I’m not going to — I’m not going to talk about — I don’t want to look back and do that critique. It gets us nowhere. I want to look to the future.
Amna Nawaz:
But this is clearly a conversation Democrats are having right now.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Of course there is. But there’s no way to fix it if you made a mistake.
I called — I was one of four senators to call for him to step aside. And I wish he had done it earlier, but I’m not going to do that kind of biopsy — or what’s — it’s not a biopsy? What…
Amna Nawaz:
Autopsy.
(Laughter)
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Autopsy. Biopsy, autopsy.
But I don’t think that serves a purpose. What does serve a purpose is, Democrats have to sharpen our message. Whose side are you on? Not left to right. Not the Democrats got too liberal or too conservative, or the Republicans are too far right. Whose side are you on? Whose side are you on when you take on the drug companies, when you take on Wall Street, when you take on the companies that outsource jobs, period?
Amna Nawaz:
So, as you look forward now for the future of the Democratic Party, there is a sense of frustration I have heard from some younger members of the caucus, in their 30s and 40s, that maybe it’s time for more of a generational change.
They point to the change in leadership in the House, with Speaker Jeffries — with Leader Jeffries there now, but they also pointed to the fact that Nancy Pelosi still exerts a lot of influence and a lot of power, and they say that that same change hasn’t happened in the Senate. Do you think that it should?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Well, it’s just natural. I don’t know about Nancy still has a lot of — she has power because she’s a great intellect and has an incredible record of public service. I mean, she’s not the Democratic leader.
The top three leaders, one from Massachusetts, one from New York, one from California, that may be a problem. I like all three of them. But the problem, in part, is we are seen in places like Ohio and Western PA and Michigan and Wisconsin as probably too much of a bicoastal party. And I don’t — I mean, I — every generation…
Amna Nawaz:
And that’s not reflected in the leadership.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Yes, every generation — I’m not critical of any one of them in this case, but every generation, you lose an election, people say, we need new leadership.
Amna Nawaz:
Yes.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I understand that. I expect that. But it’s not just new leadership, and I don’t — it’s not just leadership. It’s who is on your side?
Amna Nawaz:
Can I ask you? Because, as we sit here today, Matt Gaetz has now withdrawn his nomination to serve as attorney general for the incoming Trump administration.
Do you believe all the other nominees will be confirmed?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I mean, you know what? I’m not there anymore, so I don’t even have to think about what’s going to happen or predict.
But let me say this. I would assume probably one more goes down or two, because they’re pretty extreme.
Amna Nawaz:
And you said you’re going to stay in the arena. There’s going to be a special election for J.D. Vance’s seat when he becomes vice president. Will you run?
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
I have no idea at this point. I have not made a decision. I’m going to stay in the arena one way or another. It might be elective office. It might be shows like this that maybe you only have me on because you think I’m going to run. Maybe you have me on because I maybe have something to say. I don’t know.
But I’m going to continue to speak out.
Amna Nawaz:
We always love to have you on. We hope you will come back soon.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Thanks.
Amna Nawaz:
Democratic Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown, thank you for being here.
Sen. Sherrod Brown:
Sure. Thanks.