Election 2024: Meet U.S. Senate candidates from Ohio, Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno
Bernie Moreno, a Republican car dealership owner, is challenging longtime U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown who is running for reelection on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Here’s what you need to know about the two candidates for U.S. Senator to represent the thirteenth district of Ohio in Congress.
Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Brown was raised in Mansfield, before he went to school at the Ohio State University and Yale University.
In 1975, Brown was the youngest person elected to the Ohio House of Representatives at 22 years old.
His first term in Congress began at the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993, and reelected seven times, according to a timeline compiled by cleveland.com
In 2006, Brown was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating his Republican opponent, then-Sen. Mike DeWine.
“I’ve spent my career fighting for the dignity of work – the idea that hard work should pay off for everyone, no matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of work you do,” said Brown. “I’ll always do what’s right for Ohio – whether that means standing up to drug companies to lower the cost of prescriptions for people on Medicare, standing up to special interests and corporations to lower costs and cut taxes for middle class families.”
He’s the first Ohio senator to serve on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee in 40 years, and working to expand childcare options in rural parts of the U.S. and Ohio.
“I’m also working with Republicans and Democrats to secure the southern border, crack down on fentanyl trafficking, and ensure that border patrol agents have the resources they need,” he said. “I worked across the aisle to pass into law the FEND Off Fentanyl Act to do more to keep dangerous fentanyl out of Ohio by going after the chemical suppliers in China and the drug cartels in Mexico.”
Brown emphasized the importance of bolstering several Mahoning Valley organizations, including the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
“Governing comes down to whose side you’re on, and I’ll always stand with Ohioans in theValley, because when you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work,” he said. “YARS is one of the region’s greatest resources. The station and the servicemen and women working there are critical to our national security, the Mahoning Valley’s economy, and our state’s aerospace leadership. It’s why I’ll always fight to ensure YARS has the resources it needs to continue its missions.”
Brown has also worked to reform U.S. railroad regulations and support the village of East Palestine as a whole after the Norfolk Southern train derailment.
“When Norfolk Southern’s greed and incompetence caused the train derailment in East Palestine, it meant returning to the town again and again to help make sure the community had the support it needed and introducing bipartisan legislation to ensure a derailment like this doesn’t happen again,” Brown said.
Bernie Moreno
Bernie Moreno’s campaign team did not respond to Mahoning Matters’ attempt to interview, but here’s some information from his campaign website.
Moreno was born in Bogota, Colombia and came to the U.S. with his family when he was five years old. When he turned 18 years old, he became an American citizen.
“I am running for the U.S. Senate because, for too long, the men and women who move Ohio forward, American workers, have been left behind by career politicians like Sherrod Brown and Joe Biden,” said Moreno.
Moreno’s campaign website lists 16 top priorities, including supporting a ban on late term abortions and enacting term limits for members of congress.
“All public policy priorities in America should revolve around a simple concept: what is good for American workers and families?” said Moreno. “All elected officials should strive to create a growing middle class where the American Dream is accessible to anyone, regardless of their background.”
President Donald Trump, Senator J.D. Vance, Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost are among some of his supporters.