David M. Shribman: Republicans change messaging amid economic downturn

NEW WATERFORD, Ohio ― See how they run. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown is running like an old man in a hurry.

"An old man in a hurry" is the phrase Lord Randolph Churchill employed to characterize then-76-year-old William Gladstone, the 19th-century British prime minister whose reputation as a backer of "the masses against the classes" precisely matches Brown's political profile.

At 73 years old, Brown may be aged by the standard applied to Gladstone, the classical liberal reformer known as the "GOM" ― the Grand Old Man ― but he's a stripling compared to Sens. Charles Grassley (93), Bernie Sanders (85) and Mitch McConnell (84).

In truth, Brown is trim and ready for battle, less like Gladstone and more like young lad Jon Ossoff (39), the Democratic senator running for reelection in Georgia and, maybe, for president in 2028.

And so when Brown ambled into farmer Jan Douglass' big red barn to fire up six dozen Ohio voters determined to restore him to Desk 88 on the Senate floor ― the very escritoire once occupied by such liberals as Herbert Lehman and Robert F. Kennedy of New York and George McGovern of South Dakota ― there was a sense that he was less interested in retribution (for his 2024 loss to Republican Bernie Moreno) than in restoration (to his perch as a principal pugilist against President Donald Trump).

In a way, this corner of Ohio is a microcosm of the character of a state often regarded as a bellwether, delivering its electoral votes to the winner in 26 of the last 29 presidential elections. Five miles away is the town of Columbiana (population: 6,795), where Harvey Firestone, founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, was born in 1868. (Along with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Firestone became one of the mainstays of the state's economy.) In the field near where Brown met with voters sit acres of soybeans a few weeks from harvest, a symbol of Ohio's agricultural heritage and the power of its farm vote.

These days, the Paradise Acres farm practices regenerative agriculture ― city folk need to know there really is such a thing, with a focus on rebuilding soil health and fostering diversity ― all of which you might regard as metaphors for what Brown is attempting.

His pitch has a touch of the pitchfork, though not quite of the fire-and-brimstone variety (he went to Yale, for gosh sakes, long after the time of revivalist preacher Jonathan Edwards, who remains famous for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"). But there are in Brown trace elements of Rev. Timothy Dwight, a Yale president at the turn of the 19th century who was a practitioner of what became known as the Second Great Awakening.

Brown is attempting a great awakening of his own, trying to stir voters to rebel against high diesel prices, escalating fertilizer costs and beef tariffs, which all affect farmers here. With an air of a camp meeting, he railed against Wall Street, drug companies and health insurers, and he told voters squinting at the brilliant sunlight flowing through the barn's upper loft door that he "couldn't sit on the sidelines" because "I know what's going on in the country" and "how rigged the system is against so many people."

He's running against Sen. Jon Husted, a veteran Ohio lawmaker and lieutenant governor appointed to the Senate seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president. Husted knows what he's up against ― not only the regenerative Brown and his claims that the Republican senator has helped "the richest people get richer and [to] screw the middle class and people who are struggling," but also a rebellion against high energy prices and impatience over the Iran war.

That's why last week, Husted ― a Trump loyalist who is witnessing a national rebellion against energy prices soaring because of that war ― swiftly adjusted his campaign playbook: "We've got to bring the war to a close," he said. The next day, he aired a campaign ad during the Ohio State-Illinois football game ― a television broadcast sure to get the attention of Buckeye voters ― carrying the legend "Focused on Affordability." The voters sure are.

Husted is not alone. Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the recipient of a high-profile campaign endorsement from Vance, sought to bolster his prospects in the tight Michigan Senate race by shooting a campaign ad in a grocery store, saying, "The war needs to end, and end quickly." Some 20 Republicans running for office this fall have done much the same.

For its part, the Brown campaign has many of the same themes as Democrats across the country. Trump has nationalized the midterms ― presidents do this at their peril, given the record of poor midterm performances by the party holding the White House ― and so the Democrats have responded in kind. With interest for 30-year mortgages soaring above 7% and with voters reminded about high gasoline prices every time they drive past a service station, Democrats seem to be on the offensive.

That's the natural profile when their rivals are on the defensive about a president whose approval ratings are as weak as Trump's, which reached a record low late last month at 32%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Especially troubling to the Republicans is that Trump's approval among party members now sits at 73%, down from 82%.

Then there is the issue of data centers, which have provided a backlash that has hurt candidates like Husted, a onetime advocate for tech infrastructure. This summer, sensing the public mood, Husted introduced legislation on Capitol Hill to assure that taxpayers won't be burdened by costs associated with new data centers.

Republicans across the country are backpedaling from their early enthusiasm for the new technology, but they are being pummeled for their earlier stands anyway ― a phenomenon especially evident in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, where Democratic incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro has been pillorying Republican challenger Stacy Garrity, even though she's backed away from her early cheerleading for data centers.

"Jon Husted was the point man for data centers," Brown said here, arguing that these facilities "come in, they gobble up our land and pollute or water, and electrical costs go up." That riff is part of a populism that Democrats across the country are mobilizing in their battle with MAGA-style populism. It's getting its greatest test here in Ohio, where the two candidates are separated by three-tenths of a percentage point.

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David M. Shribman is the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.