COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- With two months to go before the November election, the Ohio senatorial race between incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Bernie Moreno is attracting national attention.
It is already considered the most expensive in the nation, and it could determine which party collects control of the Senate. This means the vote in Ohio wields power, and to help voters with their choice, NBC4's Colleen Marshall invited each candidate to sit down for an interview with her and Joe Toohey, a colleague from NBC4's Nexstar sister station in Cleveland.
Thus far, only Sherrod Brown has confirmed an interview date, although both candidates have expressed interest. You can watch the interview with Sherrod Brown in its entirety in the video player above.
Brown has been in the Senate since 2007, and his political career extends back to 1975. He said he should be re-elected because his resume proves he gets things done.
"When I came to the Senate, I wanted Ohio to get its fair share, now I want Ohio to get more than it's fair share," Brown said. "I'm proud of what I've done. I've spent my career standing up to special interest groups, up to Wall Street, standing up to the drug companies."
Brown said as an Ohio Senator, he has contributed to capping prescription drug prices, given back to Ohio veterans and said he helped preserve the pension of 100,000 union workers. Brown also said he feels Moreno will not get things done as he said Moreno will not collaborate with those who are not in his party.
"My job, first of all, is to put Ohioans first. So I've taken on Presidents of both parties, a whole host of issues, (and) will continue to. My job is to fight for pension," Brown said. "It's my job to look out for people partisanship aside."
Last November, Ohioans voted to approve reproductive right protections, and Brown said he wants Ohioans and their physicians to make their decisions about abortion, not politicians.
"(Moreno) is arguing for a national abortion ban, no exceptions," Brown said. "Says he's 100% pro-life in the face of what Ohioans decided with 57% -- that, to me, is not representative government. When the voters say something resoundingly, it's really arrogant to say, 'No, I know better than you.'"
Brown was also the fourth Democratic senator to call for President Joe Biden to withdraw his candidacy for president, which Brown said he did because he heard Ohioans express a need to move on. He said the decision saddened him, but he felt it was the right one.
He also chose not to attend the Democratic Convention in Chicago, which he said he did in order to prioritize speaking with Ohio voters.
"I made that decision four months ago that I was not going to go to the Democratic Convention," Brown said. "Tough race in a tough state and I was talking to voters ... One day I was in Toledo with two sheriffs, one Democrat, one Republican. Both endorsed me."
Brown said he spoke with those sheriffs about keeping fentanyl out of the country, which he anticipates successes in. He also said he was grateful he was able to learn from constituents instead of attending the conference.
Brown recalled a visit to Pike County for the ground breaking of a new school after the old junior high kept making people sick from left over nuclear radiation from a Cold War nuclear enrichment plant.
"I was surrounded by maybe 100 5th graders, and then the local marching band in a very small school district in Pike," he said. "It was fun, it was celebratory. Way more fun than going to Chicago, and also more useful."
Brown has also served alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, the new Democratic candidate, both in her current role and when she was in the Senate herself. He said they had never sat on the same committee, but have worked together and he said he likes her.
Brown also addressed the campaign ads Moreno is running against him. He said he does not understand Moreno calling him a communist, and challenged Moreno to consider the policies more than the attacks.
"If I'm watching the Guardians game and I see another nasty ad with chaos at the border and an Alfred-Hitchcock-like voice, that ominous voice -- I just don't answer all that stuff," he said. "And they make stuff up. Whose side are you on? Who's fighting, because I'm working bipartisanly."
Brown said he wants to continue his service to Ohio for another six years, and said at 71-years-old, he still feels ready to serve voters.
"I wake up every day and I think, I still get to do this and make this fight for Ohio and make this fight for workers and -- God willing and the voters willing -- come November, I will keep doing it," he said.
NBC4 has reached out to Moreno repeatedly to offer him the same opportunity to sit down for an interview. Although his team has expressed interest, he has not committed to a date.
