Ohio Senate Race and its Impact on Sustainable Development Goals
Voters in 2024 will not only choose who lives in the White House, but will also decide which party controls the Senate, with its unique powers to advance or block legislation and also approve or reject the appointments of judges and other high officials.
Importance of Ohio in Senate Control
Ohio is pivotal in the fight for Senate control, and after a hotly contested primary, Republicans have chosen Bernie Moreno, a former car dealer who has closely aligned himself with 45th President Donald Trump. In November, Moreno will face Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.
Sherrod Brown’s Record and Criticisms of Bernie Moreno
Speaking on MSNBC, Sen. Brown said that after already electing him three times to the Senate, Ohio voters know his record—and also know why they shouldn’t vote for his opponent.
“They know that Bernie Moreno likes to look out for himself,” Brown told MSNBC. “He has said in this campaign that he won’t work with Democrats, he is going to go to Washington and do his own thing. He’s illustrated that by calling for a national abortion ban, with no exceptions, even though Ohio overwhelmingly last November voted for a constitutional amendment on abortion rights … he doesn’t really care what the voters want. That’s really who he is. And we will make that contrast—I fight for Ohio. I listened to people. I do roundtables all over the state. That’s how we got a good infrastructure bill. That’s how we got the CHIPS bill, which is going to create thousands of jobs in Ohio. That’s how you do this job.”
In his primary-night victory speech, Moreno rejected the notion that Senator Brown knows what’s good for Ohio.
“He says he advocates for working class Americans,” Moreno said. “So let’s dissect that for a second. Under Sherrod Brown’s watch, China has gone from a $4 billion trade deficit to a $235 billion trade deficit with America. The middle class has shrunk under his watch. We’ve lost factory after factory under his watch.
“This is a guy who is for unfettered immigration. He is an open borders radical. Who does that hurt? It hurts the very people he played, he pretends to help. These are people who are getting crushed every single day at the grocery store at the gas station. He’s all for this Green New Deal, this idea that all of us should drive an electric car, have whatever stove he tells us to, live in some small hut somewhere. Well, of course, he hangs out with his buddies in Martha’s Vineyard. That’s who Sherrod Brown really is.”
Interview with Dan Gearino on Ohio Senate Race
Columbus, Ohio-based Inside Climate News reporter Dan Gearino is following this contest. The interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
Significance of Ohio in the Senate Race
STEVE CURWOOD: Why is Ohio a significant Senate race in 2024?
DAN GEARINO: Democrats barely control the Senate right now. And they have a pretty tough map. When you look at who is up for reelection, Joe Manchin is retiring, and Democrats are going to almost certainly lose that seat. That means that they pretty much need to run the table on almost all of their other close races—and that includes Ohio.
Ohio is part of this short list—the others are Montana, Nevada, Arizona—of states where the Democratic incumbent or the Democratic candidate has to win, or else Republicans would take control. Unless there’s some other race out there that becomes competitive that we don’t think is competitive at the moment.
Sherrod Brown’s Chances in Ohio
CURWOOD: Ohio has been thought of for many years as a swing state. In fact, Obama won in ’08 and ’12, but Trump won last time around, and won big. What sort of chance does Sherrod Brown have as a Democrat who knows how to win in Ohio?
GEARINO: This has become a tougher state for Sherrod Brown to win.
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