Brown, Sherrod, 1952-

Sherrod Campbell Brown (born November 9, 1952) is an American politician and retired educator. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Ohio Secretary of State from 1983 to 1991, as the U.S. Representative from Ohio's 13th district from 1993 to 2007, and has served as U.S. Senator from Ohio since 2007.

Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Brown earned a B.A. from Yale University and M.A. and M.P.A. degrees from Ohio State University. He taught at the Mansfield branch campus of The Ohio State University from 1979 to 1981. During his senior year at Yale, Brown was recruited by a local Democratic leader to run for Ohio's state house. Brown served as a state representative in Ohio from 1974 to 1982. At the time of his election to the Ohio House, he was the youngest person elected to that body. In 1982, he won the first of two terms as Ohio Secretary of State. In 1990, Bob Taft defeated Brown's bid for a third term. In 1992, Brown moved from Mansfield to Lorain, Ohio, and won a heavily contested Democratic primary for the open seat for Ohio's 13th congressional district. He would be re-elected six times.

In 2006, Brown defeated Republican incumbent Mike DeWine for Ohio's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat; he was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. In the Senate, Brown serves as Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, where he played an instrumental role in passing the historic Wall Street reform law that established new consumer protections, created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and reined in big banks. He is also a member of the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and Select Committee on Ethics.