Sherrod Brown
United States Senator
Democrat, Ohio
A Representative and a Senator from Ohio; born in Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio, November 9, 1952; B.A., Yale University, New Haven, Conn., 1974; M.A., Ohio State University, Ohio, 1981; member of the faculty, Ohio State University, Mansfield, Ohio, 1979-1981; member of the Ohio State house of representatives, 1975-1982; Ohio secretary of state, 1983-1991; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Third and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1993-January 3, 2007); not a candidate for reelection to the House of Representative but was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 2006 for the term ending January 3, 2013.
Sherrod Brown was raised in Mansfield, Ohio and attended the local public schools. The son of a small town doctor who made house calls and treated everyone regardless of their ability to pay, Sherrod has never forgotten where he comes from.
While many in Washington have simply gone along with corporate-backed free trade deals that have devastated Ohio’s manufacturing sector and sent good-paying American jobs overseas, Sherrod has been a tireless advocate for policies that help workers and their families. Because he understands that representing people is more important than partisan politics, he stood up to both Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican President George W. Bush to fight against the North American and Central American Free Trade Agreements.
The author of a respected book, Myths of Free Trade, Sherrod has outlined a new plan for truly fair trade that protects workers’ rights, labor standards, food safety, and the environment while also supporting small businesses, family farmers, and ranchers here at home.
As a matter of principle, he has refused to accept the Congressional Health Plan until health care is available to every Ohioan. At the same time, he continues to fight insurance company and pharmaceutical company lobbyists in order to make health care more affordable for seniors, workers, and small businesses.
Sherrod opposed the War on Iraq from Day One, voting against the war authorization while working to make sure our troops get the body armor they need and the health care they deserve. He has worked to improve port security and homeland security, authoring tough new legislation that says national security must be the most important consideration in any trade agreement.
Prior to serving in Congress, Sherrod served two terms as Ohio’s Secretary of State and, in the early 1990s, he taught democracy and government in Poland as that nation was making the transition from Cold War Communism to thriving democracy. He’s also taught in Ohio’s public schools and at Ohio State University.
Sherrod currently resides in Avon, Ohio with his wife Connie Schultz, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Sherrod and Connie have three daughters and a son.