Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown loses police endorsement for the first time in 12 years

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the first time since his Senate career began, Sherrod Brown has failed to earn the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police’s endorsement for re-election — and the union cites the Democrat’s tweet about a controversial shooting.

The Ohio FOP in 2006 endorsed then-Sen. and now-Gov. Mike DeWine, the Republican who lost his seat to Brown in an upset.

Since then, Brown has won the support of law enforcement, deftly navigating the blue-dog politics of an ever-reddening state. But not this year.

“It came down to a tweet,” said Mike Weinman, Ohio FOP spokesman and a retired officer who was paralyzed in the line of duty. “There was a shooting here, and Sherrod, instead of taking time to listen and talk to us and understand the situation, did what all these people do now and got on his phone. Brown made a comment. It’s a shame.”

The incident Weinman refers to dates back to 2021, when Columbus cop Nicholas Reardon fatally shot 16-year-old foster child Ma’Khia Bryant after responding to a domestic-violence call. He arrived at the scene to find Bryant swinging a knife at another young child in the home. 

“When he arrived it was complete chaos,” Weinman told The Post. “She was using a weapon on an unarmed person so he had to unfortunately use his service weapon to neutralize the scene. Nobody in that house including the officer is happy that happened, let me tell you. But Brown spoke out quickly against the officer, and a lot of people I think remembered that during the vote.”

The senator tweeted one day after the April 21, 2021, shooting and tied it to another event that day: a former Minneapolis cop’s conviction for killing George Floyd.

“While the verdict was being read in the Derek Chauvin trial, Columbus police shot and killed a sixteen-year-old girl. Her name was Ma’Khia Bryant. She should be alive right now,” Brown wrote.

Bryant’s death also sparked Black Lives Matter protests — she was black, Reardon is white.

But the officer was cleared of wrongdoing, with a grand jury declining to charge him after a review found the shooting justified.

Weinman also says further “statements” from the senator about police may have cost him more votes.

“People here genuinely don’t know where he stands on things like George Floyd and qualified immunity. Our voters know their stuff, and he just wasn’t being clear enough about where he stands. Brown has always been great for supplies, vests, helping us get resources. But I think now our people aren’t as sure they can trust him,” he told The Post.

Weinman explained the endorsement process: An FOP committee screens a small batch of candidates for office. The approved candidates are then brought up for a floor vote. 

“They called his name, and it was time,” Weinman said. “He missed it by four votes.”

Brown’s Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, won’t receive the FOP endorsement this year either, but Weinman says this has more to do with procedure than politics.

“In the past, if a candidate failed to get the votes on the floor, a member could make a motion to suggest a new name, and we could have an immediate, direct vote,” Weinman said. “This year we changed that. Only names from the screening committee could be voted on, and only Brown made it past them.”

The committee passed on Moreno due to his lack of political experience.

“He’s too new,” Weinman said. “Great businessman, potential for sure. But he has to prove it. Like Vance did.”

By this, Weinman is referring to a similar vote in 2018 when then-Senate candidate J.D. Vance was able to win the prized endorsement over more experienced competitors.

“Vance really worked for it. He campaigned. Moreno ran out of time,” Weinman said. 

He also confirmed the Ohio FOP will not be making any additional statewide endorsements for 2024.

Brown is the only prominent Democrat left in the soon-to-be-solid-red Ohio, making his race with Moreno one of the most expensive and closely watched in the nation.

Brown maintains a 6.5-point lead over Moreno, but experts expect endorsements like this one and Vance’s emerging role as a national campaigner to have a significant effect on the Buckeye State.