PHILADELPHIA — Republican Donald Trump will lose Ohio as voters in the key battleground state reject the billionaire’s “counterfeit campaign,” Sen. Sherrod Brown told Democrats at the party convention here Thursday night.
In his prime-time speech, the Ohio Democrat stuck to a theme heard throughout the week: that Mr. Trump is perfectly willing to take advantage of middle-class workers merely to line his own pockets. The Republican’s supposed solutions for blue-collar America, Mr. Brown predicted, will fall flat in Ohio, and the state will go for Hillary Clinton in November.
“There’s no question we’ve got work to do. We face serious challenges today. Too many families struggle just to get by, let alone get ahead,” he said. “Donald Trump thinks people in states like mine will choose his counterfeit campaign over the genuine solutions we’re fighting for tonight. He is wrong.”
Mr. Brown, who had been rumored to be under consideration as Mrs. Clinton’s vice-presidential pick, said Mr. Trump looks down on the Midwest.
“Donald Trump looks at towns in the middle of America and sees a ’rust belt’ of decay. Well, we reject the term ’rust belt,’” Mr. Brown said.
The senator also said that for all Mr. Trump’s talk about fighting for American workers and trade deals that make the U.S. more prosperous, he’s seen little action to back up the talk.
“I’ve been fighting for a trade agenda for more than 20 years that puts American workers first. And I can tell you, in all those years, I’ve never ever seen Donald Trump,” Mr. Brown said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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