Ohio’s Sen. Brown endorses Clinton

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), among the Senate’s more progressive members, announced Tuesday that he is backing Hillary Clinton for president, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

{mosads}“As Ohio’s working class families continue to recover from the worst economic recession in our country’s history, we need a president who’s committed to growing our economy by lifting up the middle class,” he said in a statement.

“From opposing unfair trade deals to fighting for a fair financial system, Hillary Clinton has shown she puts working families first,” Brown added.

Brown’s backing gives Clinton the support of the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee heading into 2016.

No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio voters.

Clinton has gradually moved left in recent months amid the surging popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist. She came out against both the Keystone XL pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership earlier this month, moves which are now drawing praise from Sanders.

“I am delighted that in the last couple of months Hillary Clinton has come on board positions that I have held for many, many years,” he said in an interview Tuesday on NBC’s “Today.”

Brown has repeatedly expressed skepticism toward the TPP’s details during public remarks earlier this year.

He even threatened to block President Obama’s trade nominee until his administration releases the full text of the massive international trade deal.