CLEVELAND — As new members of Congress made their way through the U.S. Capitol this week, one incoming freshman knew these halls rather well: Ohio's Sherrod Brown, following his victory over incumbent Sen. Jon Husted. So what was it like being an 18-year veteran of the upper chamber with all of the other freshmen?
"It was a little weird. There were some memes of like a big kid sitting in a classroom from the movie 'Elf' and 'Billy Madison', I think, in that other movie. Some people sent me that," said Brown. "It was fun though because I knew almost none of these people in either party that I was meeting pretty much all of them for the first time."
One of those was incoming Sen. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, with whom Brown said he had a nice conversation. "We talked about what we're going to do for the Brent Spence Bridge, knowing he might be able to help me with something in Cleveland or Lake County or Lorain," Brown said.
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Brown has now been part of two blue wave elections, winning his Senate seat in 2006 over Republican Mike DeWine and again in 2026. So at what point did he feel that this year might be reminiscent of that one?
"I could feel it early when I had a meeting, supposedly it was going to be with 12 veterans in Jackson County, a rural Appalachian, pretty Republican County east of Columbus to talk about the Husted-Trump efforts to close the VA hospital in Chillicothe, making sure that we stopped that, to talk about the war. Twelve people were invited, and 50 showed up. And that's a county that I didn't expect to win, and didn't win, but I felt that," he said. "I just felt people were really mad for good reason. They blamed the party in power, and that was Jon Husted and the president."
Husted's term technically expires Dec. 15 though Brown hasn't officially been told when he will be sworn in.
"Yeah I don't know. It's up to the leadership, John Thune the leader... the leadership in the Senate. I assume around that time Dec. 15. All I ask is they give me a little bit of notice so my family and others can come in to watch. It happens in the chamber in the Senate, and the guy that raises his right hand and swears me in is JD Vance, whose seat this actually was."
When Vance won his Senate seat in 2022, one of the first calls he received was from the state's then senior Sen. Sherrod Brown, so has Brown heard from the man who replaced him, Bernie Moreno? "No, not yet," he said. "I'll work with him as I've worked with everybody."
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In his previous terms in the Senate, Brown served on such committees as Banking and Housing, Finance and Agriculture. Where he will be seated this time is still unknown.
"I'm going to have conversations in the next few days with the people. I've been talking to future colleagues, once I'm sworn in, my colleagues but I know enough about the place I just want to be in a place where I can deliver for Ohio and I know how to do that regardless of which committee," he said. "Committees can be an advantage, chairmanships can be an advantage but I know how to deliver for Ohio. I know what buttons to push and I know how to work bipartisanly. I did it with Portman, I did it with Voinovich, much shorter time with Vance. He was on the way out almost as soon as he got there. I'll do it now. I'll do it with House members. I'm looking forward to seeing the new House members, and I know two of them very well and whatever it takes."
Asked if because of his previous service, including being the one-time chair of Banking and Housing, if he might be tasked to chair one of his new committees? "Very possibly, I don't know. Yeah, I'm a freshman but I'm not really a freshman. It's only happened like seven or eight times in the last hundred years, I think, when a senator lost his seat and then came back and beat an incumbent so we shall see."
He knows the people sent Democrats to Washington for change, and that's what he plans to deliver.
"The priorities should be end the war, the priorities should be get rid of the tariffs, priorities should be stop the corruption. Part of stopping the corruption is people held accountable for that they did and there's a lot of corruption in Columbus and Washington," he said. "Corruption's been woven into so much of our government now and that's why prices are so high in part."
