Thomas Suddes: 'Sherrod Brown is no slouch at campaigning,' but can Matt Dolan beat him?
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com
State Sen. Matt Dolan, a Chagrin Falls Republican, announced last week that he will challenge the re-election in 2024 of three-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat.
Dolan is Brown's first announced challenger for a seat that Brown has held since 2007, when he defeated then-Sen. Mike DeWine, a Cedarville Republican.
More:Ohio Sen. Matt Dolan announces 2024 U.S. Senate bid against Sherrod Brown
Brown, age 70, isn't to be underestimated.
He was re-elected in 2012 and 2018 despite vigorous challenges from Republicans Josh Mandel (in 2012) and Jim Renacci (in 2018).
On the other hand, since the popular election of U.S. senators began for Ohioans in 1914, (when they vested Warren G. Harding with the senatorial toga) the only Ohio senator of either party to have won four Senate terms was the late John Glenn, a Columbus Democrat who had been a Marine officer and in 1962 was the first American to orbit the earth.
Letters: Sherrod Brown is Ohio's 'last hope in a vaste wasteland of ignorance'
Last year, Dolan, age 58, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians, ran third statewide in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat eventually won by Middletown Republican J.D. (James David) Vance. Dolan's better-than-expected showing — a showing attained without right-wing sensationalism — demonstrated his appeal to GOP primary voters.
In 2024, in the Senate, congressional and General Assembly races, the GOP's current strength in Ohio should give Republican candidates a general-election edge.
That said, Brown — formerly an Ohio House and U.S. House member, and Ohio's secretary of state — has cultivated broad-demographic appeal as a fighter for ordinary Ohioans.
More:Hot off the press: Ohio astronaut John Glenn enters orbit, Feb. 20, 1962
For Brown, the challenge is that that message may not resound as loudly and widely as it did in Ohio.
Is this still Sherrod Brown's Ohio?
Last year's Democratic Senate nominee, suburban Warren's Tim Ryan, for example, who lost to Vance, also had vowed to fight for rank-and-file Ohioans.
But Ryan failed to carry either of the core counties in his former U.S. House district, Mahoning (Youngstown) or Trumbull (Warren), both of which have turned away from New Deal liberalism and toward the politicking of Donald Trump, as have other swathes of Ohio.
That shift in sentiment is one reason next year's Senate race offers Ohio Republicans an opportunity —and not just in Northeast Ohio — to capture a Senate seat from Brown.
Moreover, Dolan's reappointment as chair of the state Senate's budget-writing Finance Committee positions him to be the focus of many local-government and interest-group pleas for a Statehouse benefactor as to program appropriations and state construction projects.
Thomas Suddes: Despite DeWine call, there's plenty of very good reason NOT to come to Ohio
Sherrod Brown is no slouch at campaigning, and he is a formidable contender with the power of incumbency (in a, for now, Democratic-run Senate).
On the other hand, the Ohio Democratic Party (which in the early 1980s, had General Assembly majorities and held every statewide elected office except one Supreme Court seat) has nothing like that profile now. And if Brown is running on a ticket led by President Joe Biden, that — at this writing — has some downside risk.
As for Dolan, other Republicans are likely to seek the party's Senate nomination, too. But in 2022 statewide Republican Senate primary, Dolan carried Cuyahoga, Franklin and Geauga counties, and garnered roughly a quarter-million votes statewide — nearly matching second-place finisher Mandel, who's not running this time.
Bottom line: Pending the fortunes and misfortunes of Joe Biden' administration, a competitive 2024 Senate race beckons in Ohio, which could offer a definitive answer as to whether or not Ohio is still a competitive state politically -- or safe GOP territory.
MEANWHILE: Three cheers and a tip of the hat to Mike DeWine's administration, which announced last week that Ohio's rainy-day budget fund now has a balance of nearly $3.5 billion — the largest amount the fund has ever held.
Formally known as the Budget Stabilization Fund, the savings-account-like fund is a reserve to tide over the state budget in case of a cash squeeze. Twelve years ago this month the Budget Stabilization Fund totaled 89 cents.
That is not a typo.
Today's record rainy-day fund balance, and recent boosts in Ohio's bond rating, earn DeWine and his budget aides an ovation for the state's good financial management.
Tag: usps tracking, usps, us bank, us map, usaa. Budget Stabilization Fund, Chagrin Falls Republican.
These senators face the most trouble getting re-elected in 2024
Early jockeying for Senate seats foreshadows competitive 2024 elections
Late-season runs raise stakes for Lions-Packers matchup
Fantasy Football Week 8 Early Waiver Wire Pickups (2022)
Source: Texans set to designate Tavierre Thomas for return from IR | NFL Tracker
Football predictions: Simeon Pincus and Andy Mendlowitz's BCC picks for Week 9
NFL scores, schedule, live Week 8 updates: A.J. Brown explodes for 3 first-half TDs; Chase Claypool throws TD
'Devotion' Review: Jonathan Majors Pilots a Drama That's Searing on Racism But Rah-Rah About War
The Portal King vs. Recruiting Wiz: Why Ole Miss Vs. Texas A&M Is 'Must-See' TV
As Dublin Has Changed, so Have the People Attending One Inner-City Church
Lydia Cornelius, Richardlyne Francois lead New Albany girls tennis team to stellar season