Sherrod Brown: “I will not run for president in 2020”

Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced Thursday he would not enter the race for president to challenge Republican Donald Trump in 2020.

“As you’ve heard me say many times, when you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. I fight best when I bring joy to the battle,” Brown said during a call with Ohio media. “And I find that joy fighting for Ohio in the Senate. So that’s where I can be most effective.”

Brown’s decision comes as something of a surprise. He recently finished his tour of the early-primary states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – and as recently as the weekend hinted that he was going to jump in.

His star had been rising as a possible contender, viewed as the kind of candidate who could bring voters in Midwestern states back to the Democratic Party.

However, Brown, 66, of Cleveland, would have started out with some disadvantages. While he’s garnered headlines as of late, he’s still mostly unknown to the majority of voters. A costly 2018 Senate re-election campaign left his funds depleted compared with other candidates. And other hopefuls have effectively been running for the spot for three years now, gobbling up supporters – and key staff – in the pivotal early states.