Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who once proudly supported Biden’s climate agenda, is now facing a tough reelection and is running away from his previous positions on green energy policies, according to experts interviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Brown, who has been in office for more than two decades, has recently begun to oppose some of the Biden-Harris administration’s positions on climate change, such as advocating for a hydrogen tax credit and higher efficiency standards for power transformers, and calling for coal plants to cut 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032. This change is reflected in his declining ratings from left-wing environmental group the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which has lowered his environmental score from 100% to 88% and is his lowest score in nearly a decade.
According to GOP polling analyst and vice president at North Star Opinion Research, John McHenry, Brown’s recent shift in stance on climate policy is strategic and calculated, with the senator voting in favor of such policies once every six years, but aligning with the views of Ohio voters in between those election cycles.
Just two years ago, in 2019, Brown boasted a 100% LCV score and expressed his support for the Green New Deal, stating that he believed in aggressively combatting climate change through legislation. However, his actions and votes in recent years tell a different story. For example, he voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which allocated billions of dollars towards tackling climate change, and has cast multiple “anti-environment” votes on climate legislation in the Senate.
This pattern of shifting stances is not new for Brown, with Republicans accusing him of flip-flopping in past election cycles. In 2011, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) called out Brown for changing his position on tax cuts, and in 1997, while serving in Congress, Brown voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on congressional service, but later voted against a similar amendment in 2012, his 19th year in office.
From restricting drilling to blocking LNG exports, Joe Biden is the most anti-American energy President of my lifetime & Sherrod Brown has supported his agenda every step of the way. I'll fight to stop their liberal plans, so America can be an ENERGY DOMINANT country once again! pic.twitter.com/MJkr15HzDy
— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) January 29, 2024
Brown’s shift in position on climate policy comes as he faces a tough reelection race against Republican businessman Bernie Moreno, whom a CNN list recently ranked as the third most likely senator to lose his seat in 2024. Brown is currently ahead of Moreno by only 5 percentage points, leading to speculation that his change in stance may be an attempt to secure votes from Ohio’s energy sector, which is a significant contributor to the state’s economy. Ohio is among the top ten natural gas producers in the country and the fourth-largest producer and seventh-largest consumer of electricity.
Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at Ohio think tank The Buckeye Institute, believes that the economic consequences of the Green New Deal will be dire not just for Ohioans but for all Americans. He argues that as the state transitions to a more sustainable future, energy costs will play a crucial role in its success, and policies that drive up energy prices will harm Ohio’s economic growth.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has seen a significant increase in demand for electricity due to the growth of the data center industry, with projections indicating continued growth in the coming years. Ohio has also seen an influx of data centers, with major companies like Amazon and Google setting up campuses in the state. This industry, which is energy-intensive, relies heavily on access to affordable energy sources, making it vulnerable to the impacts of policies like the Green New Deal.
The NRSC spokesman Philip Letsou points out that Brown’s past support for the Green New Deal and a ban on some LNG exports will be hard for the senator to escape, particularly in light of his recent attempts to downplay his previous positions. Letsou argues that Brown sold out Ohio’s energy workers and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has previously called for a ban on fracking and offshore drilling nationwide.
The Biden administration’s decision to halt LNG export permits in January was met with criticism from Brown, who put forward a competing bill to ban LNG exports only to certain countries designated as geopolitical rivals. However, this attempt to counter the Biden administration’s policy is seen as a “messaging play” by Axios.
McHenry believes that the issue of climate change could play in Moreno’s favor in the upcoming election, but only if he communicates his stance effectively to Ohio voters. He argues that the rising electricity prices under the Biden administration may not sit well with voters, and it will be crucial for Moreno to highlight Brown’s support for policies that have driven up energy costs.
The DCNF reached out to Brown’s office for comment, but they did not respond. Moreno’s office referred the request to the NRSC. As Ohio heads towards election day, it remains to be seen how Brown’s changing stance on climate policy will impact his chances of winning another term in office.