Sherrod Brown Out Of Touch With Ohio Voters On Supreme Court

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has a big problem. He’s a very liberal senator in a state that is trending heavily Republican. In 2012, Barack Obama won Ohio by 3%, yet in 2016 Hillary Clinton lost Ohio by a whopping 8.1%. That 11% swing in just four years should be even more harrowing to Brown since he’ll be running in a midterm election, traditionally even more favorable to Republicans.

Due to these conditions, it might have been reasonable to expect that Brown would take a more deliberative approach to Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch. Yet he did no such thing. In fact, Brown was the first Democratic Senator to announce his opposition to Gorsuch, before extremists like Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden. Not even socialist Bernie Sanders declared out right opposition to Gorsuch.

Before Brown even had a chance to review Judge Gorsuch’s sterling judicial record, he announced that he would not support the pick:

“Ohio’s Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, immediately announced his opposition, declaring the nominee to be ‘far outside of the judicial mainstream…”

Brown’s knee jerk opposition to Gorsuch shows that he’s far outside of the Ohio political mainstream. Last year, Brown said it would be “reprehensible” if a Supreme Court nominee was denied an up or down vote. Ohio voters will surely remember if Brown puts partisan politics above a functioning Supreme Court and blocks a vote now.