Surging Democrat in hot-button race exposed for two-faced ‘problem’ that could alienate 97 percent of key demographic
Victoria Churchill
Daily Mail
June 6, 2026
Sherrod Brown spent three decades claiming he’s fighting for Ohio farmers.
But in one bold move, he backed legislation that left 97 percent of them out.
The 73-year-old Democrat is mounting a comeback bid for his old Senate seat, attempting to unseat Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed after JD Vance vacated the post for the vice presidency.
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During his final Senate term, Brown co-sponsored the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021, a bill that explicitly excludes white farmers from its benefits.
In Ohio, USDA data shows white farmers operate 97 percent of the state’s farms.
The full bill never passed, but Brown successfully pushed its provisions into the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the sweeping Biden-era COVID relief package.
Now he wants those same Ohio farmers to send him back to Washington.
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A March 2021 press release from the Senate banking committee, which Brown led at the time, makes no mention of the farming provisions or of the state’s agricultural industry at all.
Leonard Hubert, a black farmer who served as the USDA’s Farm Service Agency State Executive Director in the first Trump administration, told the Daily Mail that Brown may have intentionally tried to hide his actions.
‘Maybe [Brown] didn’t want everybody to know,’ about his support for the legislation, Hubert suggested.
That comes as the Senate hopeful has a ‘fairly good reputation with Ohio farmers,’ he said.
Hubert also noted that when you ‘look at the top 10 states where black farmers exist, obviously, Ohio is not one.’
Therefore, Hubert found Brown’s support of the legislation odd, noting, ‘when you’ve been part of the institution for so long, and you’ve been in a position where you can affect change, then why don’t you do that.
‘If USDA or any particular agency is a problem, why don’t you find a real solution to fix the problem, as opposed to adding something else to it, which, from my perspective, creates another problem,’ Hubert added.
The Brown campaign did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment about his support for the legislation.
Ohio is home to over 136,000 farmers, the fourth most of any state in the country, and they are a key constituency Brown is aiming to appeal to. Yet, only about 200 of them are black, a point Hubert emphasized to the Daily Mail several times throughout his interview.
One post made on March 24th to Brown’s campaign Instagram account features a headline boasting that ‘Sherrod Brown hears Ohio Farmers’ concerns on rising costs,’ overlaid with an image of him seemingly holding a roundtable with white farmers.
Another recent video showcases his shaking hands with farmers, keeping them to ‘keep on farming.’
That video is captioned ‘whether you work on a farm or in a factory, earn a salary or make tips, are raising children or caring for an aging parent, I’m fighting for you.’
In 2024, Brown was unable to hold on to his seat as Trump surged to his third straight victory in the Buckeye State, losing to Bernie Moreno.
First elected to Congress in 1992, Brown served in Washington for 32 years — fourteen in the House of Representatives and 18 in the Senate.
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Read more here.
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