Brown denies interest in presidential bid

WASHINGTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown said Wednesday his appearance at a progressive forum along with a number of potential Democratic presidential candidates does not signal he plans to seek the White House in 2020.

The Ohio Democrat spoke Tuesday at the Center for American Progress in Washington, an event whose speakers included Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, all of whom who are talking about running for president.

The large turnout, which also included such presidential possibilities as Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, and Julian Castro, who served as secretary of Housing Brown and Urban Development in the Obama administration, prompted reporters to dub it the first real gathering of presidential hopefuls.

“All of them are talking about running for president — I’m not,” Brown told reporters on a conference call. “That’s not my interest.”

“I go anywhere where I can talk about Ohio workers, when I can explode the myth that Ohio is the Rust Belt, which demeans who we are and diminishes our work,” Brown said.

“I will take that message wherever I can go, and I hope it had an impact on my party both for 2018 and beyond,” Brown said. “But (it's for) an impact on my party, not an interest in running for president.”

Blaine Kelly, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said Brown “has aligned himself with the most liberal senators and organizations in the country, putting himself at odds with Ohio values.”

“He must be hoping that the coastal elites who fund his campaigns can buy his reelection and propel him into the 2020 conversation,” Kelly said.

Not all the speakers at the event are considering a run for the presidency. But Brown, who is seeking re-election this November against Republican Jim Renacci, was among those Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 considered as a vice presidential running mate.