WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced Thursday that he will not be launching a bid for president in 2020.

Brown had been touring early primary states over the past few months, as part of his “Dignity of Work” tour and had said he was considering a campaign.

His announcement came as a surprise to many pundits in political media, who had assumed a campaign launch was coming.

Due to his success in winning re-election in a state Republicans otherwise swept in 2016 and 2018, Brown was considered a possible way for his party to win back Rust Belt states.

Brown and his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Connie Schultz, had said the decision on whether to run would be made by the entire family.

In a news release announcing the decision to forgo a run, Brown said he will continue to focus on working class issues and is committing to helping his party defeat President Donald Trump next year.

“Connie and I have spent the last few months traveling around the country to make dignity of work a centerpiece of Democrats’ 2020 campaign, and we are so grateful to everyone who has welcomed us into their communities and into their lives,” Brown said. “We’ve seen candidates begin taking up the dignity of work fight, and we have seen voters across the country demanding it — because dignity of work is a value that unites all of us. It is how we beat Trump, and it is how we should govern. That’s why I’m confident it will continue to be a focus for Democrats in 2020, and I plan on making sure that happens.”

Brown said he will continue to be a critic of the president.

“I will keep calling out Donald Trump and his phony populism,” he said. “I will keep fighting for all workers across the country. And I will do everything I can to elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Senate in 2020. The best place for me to make that fight is in the United States Senate.”

Brown, who was re-elected to a third term as Ohio’s senior U.S. senator, was one of the top names on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s shortlist for vice president in 2016. That spot on the ballot ultimately went to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, of Virginia.

Brown last visited in Lawrence County in 2016 as part of roundtable discussion with local leaders on issues affecting the county.

 

 

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