The Republican National Committee sent out a final message to Ohio voters Monday entitled “Sherrod Brown: Wrong for Ohio” that will run on digital platforms throughout the Buckeye State.
Voters are urged in the ad to retire Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on Tuesday from the U.S. Senate.
The one-minute ad is part of the Republican National Committee’s digital and GOTV efforts ahead of Election Day. It suggests that Brown’s record is “out of touch” with Ohioans and casts him as a pillar of the Democrats’ resistance campaign against President Trump’s agenda.
Watch it below:
Brown, who is Ohio’s senior senator in Washington and spent multiple terms in the House before that, is running for a third Senate term against Republican Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH-16), a CPA and businessman.
Two polls taken in the final week of October showed Brown leading Renacci, by six points in an Emerson poll and by nine points in a Gravis poll. Brown has hauled in more than three times the funding of his opponent, allowing him to run TV ads across Ohio since day one of the race.
Renacci, on the other hand, has focused on stump speeches across the state, purchasing only one TV ad to date.
The new RNC ad, while not mentioning Renacci by name, calls attention to the following elements of Brown’s record:
- Brown voted against Trump’s tax reform measures that have brought an average of $2,200 more per year into middle-class households in Ohio.
- The ad plays a clip of Brown voicing his distaste for the tax-cut legislation, saying “that’s irresponsible” and “that’s morally reprehensible.”
- Brown has gone on record in support of “Medicare for all,” which has been estimated to cost $32 trillion. He said he was proud to support Obamacare, echoing President Obama’s claim that “if you’ve got health insurance and you like it, you can keep it.”
- Brown “turned his back on Ohio coal workers” the narrator says, followed by Brown stating “there is no war on coal. Period.”
- Brown is against Trump’s border wall, calling it “ludicrous.”
The ad closes with quotes from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) praising Brown in public speeches. Brown has voted with Schumer 97 percent of the time and with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) 95 percent of the time.
Mandi Merritt, the Ohio spokeswoman for the RNC, said the ad was designed to be a “reminder” of what Brown has stood for over his two terms in the U.S. Senate.
“As President Trump makes his final push today to Ohio voters, we’re reminding Ohioans how devastating Sherrod Brown’s record has been for Ohio families. After over two decades in Washington, D.C., Sherrod Brown has left his Ohio values in the rear-view mirror,” Merritt said. “Whether it’s voting against historic tax reform or siding with special interests over Ohio families, Sherrod Brown votes more in line with his party bosses than he does with hardworking Ohioans.
“This ad is a final message that voters have a choice tomorrow,” added Merritt. “A choice between results or resistance, a choice between putting Ohio first or putting Chuck Schumer first. Voters know that Sherrod Brown is wrong for Ohio, and they’ll make that known at the ballot box tomorrow.”
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Anthony Accardi is a writer and reporter for The Ohio Star.
