U.S. Senate candidates Jim Renacci and Sherrod Brown have agreed to participate in three debates in October.
- The first will be hosted at the Idea Center in Cleveland and sponsored by the Ohio Debate Commission on Sunday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m.
- The second debate will be moderated by NBC 4 in Columbus on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.
- The third and final debate will be co-sponsored by WLWT and Miami University on Friday Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.
Renacci is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Ohio’s 16th district. He is an accountant and businessman and was a key leader in the writing of President Trump’s tax-cut legislation, which has been credited with helping spur economic growth across the country.
Brown is a 40-plus year politician going back to his election to the Ohio statehouse in 1974. He was elected Ohio secretary of state in 1983 and has been in Washington since his election to the U.S. House in 1993. He won his first term in the Senate in November 2006, was re-elected in 2012 and now seeks a third term.
In 2011, in the National Journal’s annual rankings, Brown tied with eight other members for the title of “most liberal” member of Congress.
In 2018, he was rated by the Center for Responsive Politics as leading all U.S. senators in the amount of money accepted from special-interest lobbyists.
Brown consistently votes in favor of gun control, which has earned him a “F” rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
He gets a top-shelf rating from Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List for his staunch support of abortion rights, all the way through the ninth month of pregnancy.
Renacci says he is looking forward to the debate.
“Debates are essential to campaigns because they give voters the opportunity to learn about each candidate and their priorities,” Renacci said in a statement. “I look forward to telling Ohioans about my history as a businessman and my goals of bringing better, higher-paying jobs to our great state.”
All debates will be available on livestream.
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Anthony Accardi is a writer and reporter for The Ohio Star.
We need to ask ourselves a question Ohio Republicans. “Why is Renacci not running away with this contest?” ALL of the facts are there to prove Sherrod Brown has NEVER represented the citizens of the State of Ohio. We all agree on that, do we not? So again, why is this race even remotely close? My opinion on this is, we have no one to blame but the cowardly, wishy washy RINO republican leadership we have in our state party. The Party, with the exception of a few such as Renacci, Jordan and a few others, has done nothing but endorsed a litany of Rino’s that DO NOT stand for our core beliefs. Don’t believe me, look no further than our current Governor that takes no backseat to ANYBODY about criticizing a President that received over 60 million republican votes. They’ve endorsed DeWine, who again should be running away with his nomination, not so, WHY? There shouldn’t be one republican that does not remember how DeWine sold us out as a senator. Yet here he is, Mr. Democrat Lite trying to convince us that “He’s our Man.” After this election, and make no doubt about what I’m saying, WE MUST GET OUT AND VOTE, we must then remove these “so-called” leaders from our party and “Right The Ship.”