GETTING THE FACTS
By Amy Sherman Politifact Ohio
Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci says his Democratic opponent Sen. Sherrod Brown votes in step with Democratic leadership and liberals.
Renacci held a July 10 press conference in Cincinnati to call for term limits.
“People start voting not for their state anymore but they start voting for their leader- ship,” Renacci said. “And we have seen that with our Sen. Sherrod Brown who votes 97 percent with Chuck Schumer, almost 95 plus percent with Elizabeth Warren.”
Renacci was referring to the voting records of Schumer, who is the Democratic Sen- ate leader and represents New York, as well as Warren, who represents Massachusetts and is a potential 2020 presidential contender to challenge Pres- ident Donald Trump.
We found that Renacci is largely correct on the numbers but we will add some context.
In recent years, the average senator voted with his or her party about 90 percent of the time when a majority of Democrats took a position differ- ent from a majority of Repub- licans, said Steven S. Smith, Washington University political science professor.
“In this context, a serious look at a senator’s record requires more digging. On what issues did the senator introduce legislation, offer amendments, address in pub- lic statements, or pursue on committee or in conference?”
Brown’s voting record
Renacci’s campaign pointed to vote data compiled by Congressional Quarterly, which showed that Brown voted with Schumer 96 percent of the time between 2007 and 2018. For the comparison with Warren, who joined the Sen- leadership to reconcile dif- ate in 2013, the Renacci camferences between the House paign pulled CQ data show- and the Senate. Warren was ing Brown voted the same as among Senate Democrats Warren about 94 percent of who opposed any cuts to food the time. stamps and voted against the
We used ProPublica’s publegislation. lic database which provides In 2015, Brown voted to head-to-head comparisons, adopt the conference report and found similar to reauthorize fedresults. eral transporta-
So the numbers tion programs and aren’t in dispute. We renew the charter have fact-checked of the Export-Imseveral previous port bank. Under the claims that Demobill, Brown said Ohio crats voted with forwas set to receive an mer President Barack Obama increase in money for high- or their party the vast major- way and transit projects. ity of the time and generally Warren opposed the legrated them Mostly True if the islation because she said it numbers were on target. Most rolled back rules that protect Democrats and Republicans consumers and our financial largely vote with their respecsystem. tive party, but using only the In 2016, Brown voted for statistic doesn’t tell the full the 21st Century Cures Act to story about a senator’s record. combat the opioid crisis. War
The straight-up vote comren said the bill was “hijacked” parisons here between three by the pharmaceutical indus- Democratic senators don’t tell try and opposed it. the full story about Brown’s Brown also voted for some voting record, either. of Trump’s nominees in 2017
Brown’s campaign spokeswhom Warren opposed, man Preston Maddock pointed including Ben Carson to head to some key votes on which up Housing and Urban DevelBrown opposed Warren. opment and Wilbur Ross for
For exa mple, in 2014, commerce secretary. Brown Brown voted to adopt the supported U.S. Trade Repreconference report on the sentative Robert Lighthizer’s farm bill and was tapped by confirmation, while Schumer We are now working with PolitiFact, a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. We will check into what they say and tell you whether it’s true.
tence of parties and winnertake-all congressional primaries incentivizes party-line voting,” University of Akron political science professor David Cohen said.
The vote comparison opposed him. among Democrats omits that
While Brown has criticized the Senate reaches bipartisan Trump on several fronts, Mad- consensus on some issues, for dock pointed to some exam- example, the recent unaniples on which the Democratic mous vote in the Senate to senator has been in agreement express opposition to allowwith the president. For exam- ing the Russians to interrogate ple, Brown supported the American diplomats,said UniInterdict Act to make it easier versity of Miami political scifor customs officials to block ence professor Gregory Koger. fentanyl from getting into the “There may be a lot of issues U.S. The law passed the Sen- on which Brown disagrees ate by unanimous consent. with Schumer and/or Warren
Trump signed the House that do not come to the Senversion into law, while Brown ate floor, so their roll call votwas a cosponsor of the Sening record may overstate their ate version. U.S. Sen. Rob actual policy agreement,” Portman, Ohio’s Republican Koger said. senator, also backed the bill, Using the ProPublica dataand both Portman and Brown base of votes, we found that attended a signing ceremony Renacci voted the same as for the new law at the White House Majority Leader Paul House. Ryan about 89 percent of the
Brown and Trump also time. share some views on trade. Brown has said Trump’s order on raising imported steel will help stabilize steel jobs in
Ohio.
Members often vote along party lines
Experts told us that it’s no surprise that senators from the same party often vote the same.
“Democrats tend to vote with fellow Democrats, just as Republicans tend to vote with their party. The exis-
Our ruling
Renacci said Brown “votes 97 percent with Chuck Schumer, almost 95 plus percent with Elizabeth Warren.”
The numbers are largely correct and not in dispute. But it’s not unusual for members of the same party to vote together, and it doesn’t tell the full story about their voting record.
We rate this claim Mostly True.