Brown, Sherrod Campbell (1952-…), has been a United States senator since 2007. Brown, a Democrat, represents Ohio. Prior to becoming a senator, Brown served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Brown was born in Mansfield, Ohio, on Nov. 9, 1952. He graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in Russian studies in 1974. He earned master’s degrees in education and public administration from Ohio State University in 1981.
Brown served in the Ohio state House of Representatives from 1975 to 1982. From 1983 to 1991, he served as Ohio’s secretary of state. Brown served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2007.
As a U.S. representative, Brown worked on legislation to reduce the price of prescription drugs. He also fought unsuccessfully against such international trade pacts as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he said would move American jobs overseas. Brown was an outspoken opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2006, Brown did not run for reelection to the House. Instead, he campaigned for, and was elected to, a seat in the U.S. Senate. As a senator, Brown became known as a strong supporter of reforming financial industry practices. He was reelected to his Senate seat in 2012 and 2018.
Brown is the author of Congress from the Inside: Observations from the Majority and the Minority (1999) and Myths of Free Trade: Why American Trade Policy Has Failed (2004).
