Sherrod Brown

Democrat senior Senator of Ohio

  • Senator

    Ohio

    January 3, 2019 - January 3, 2025

16

Congresses Served

7

House Terms

3

Senate Terms

January 1, 1952 (72 years old)

Birthday

  • Senior United States senator since 2007
  • Former U.S. representative for Ohio’s 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007
  • Served as the 47th secretary of state of Ohio from 1983 to 1991
  • Began political career in 1975 as a state representative
  • Defeated two-term Republican incumbent in the 2006 U.S. Senate election
  • Reelected in 2012 and 2018
  • Chair of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms and the Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy
  • Member of the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Select Committee on Ethics
  • Became the ranking Democratic member on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in 2015
  • Became chair of the Banking Committee in 2021
  • Became Ohio’s senior U.S. senator after the retirement of George Voinovich in 2011
  • Only Democratic statewide elected official in Ohio since 2011, with the exception of some Democratic-affiliated Ohio Supreme Court justices
  • Considered a liberal, progressive, and populist Democrat
  • Born in Mansfield, Ohio
  • Became an Eagle Scout in 1967
  • Graduated from Mansfield Senior High School in 1970
  • Received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian studies from Yale University in 1974
  • Received a Master of Arts degree in education and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Ohio State University
  • Taught at Ohio State University’s Mansfield branch campus from 1979 to 1981
  • Advocated for increased funding to fight tuberculosis and led efforts to block the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
  • Opposed an amendment to Ohio’s constitution that banned same-sex marriage and voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996
  • Critic of free trade and has taken progressive stances on financial issues
  • Proposed a bill for immediate paid sick days for workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Voted to remove President Donald Trump from office after his first impeachment
  • Introduced the Charter School Accountability Act of 2015
  • Supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and co-sponsored the single-payer Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act
  • Voted against prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children in Washington D.C. and has a pro-gay rights stance
  • Introduced the Gold Star Fathers Act of 2014 and legislation to give military veterans priority in scheduling classes in colleges
  • Urged investigation into possible tax avoidance and misconduct associated with the Panama Papers
  • Sponsored legislation to require corporate political action committees to disclose their donors
  • Criticized free trade with China and other countries, and has argued against free trade on the grounds that it harms the U.S. economy
  • Opposed the Iraq War and voted against the Iraq Resolution
  • Criticized the political influence of gun manufacturers and supported gun control measures
  • Co-sponsored a bill to restrict ISIS’s financing and supported measures to prevent terrorism