Renacci pledges term limits, claims Brown flip-flopped

Both candidates in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race are accusing the other of flip-flopping, as U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci took a pledge Tuesday to support a constitutional amendment that would limit how many terms a person can serve in Congress.

Renacci, a Republican from Wadsworth, held a press conference in Cincinnati to announce that he’s signing a pledge to limit members to three two-year House terms and two six-year terms in the Senate. Renacci is in his fourth term in the House.

“I said all along, Washington is broken,” Renacci said while also noting that term limits are popular in opinion polls. “People start voting not for their state anymore, but for their leadership.”

Renacci blasted his Democratic opponent, Sen. Sherrod Brown, for favoring term limits in 1997 and then abandoning the position. Brown served seven terms in the House and is completing his second in the Senate.

Brown did say he supported federal lawmakers limiting themselves to 12 years in service when he first ran for the House in 1992. But Brown later announced that he had reversed himself, saying term limits kept local lawmakers more focused on learning the ropes. There appears to be no record of Brown pledging to limit his time in office as a U.S. senator.

Brown’s campaign said Renacci came out against term limits in 2014.

“Congressman Renacci’s word is worthless,” Brown campaign spokesman Preston Maddock said in a written statement. “He’s already said he doesn’t believe in term limits and, as a four-term congressman, he’s in violation of this gimmick pledge.”

Supporters of term limits say they would bring new people with fresh ideas to Congress. Opponents say they would deny lawmakers the expertise that comes with experience, thus enhancing the power of lobbyists, career staffers and officials with government agencies.

Ohio voters approved congressional terms limits at the same time they approved legislative term limits in the 1990s, but the former were declared unconstitutional.