For better or worse, Sherrod Brown is a genuine economic populist, unlike the faux kind that the Republicans keep running out against him. He has been airing biting commercials describing his latest opponent as a wealthy car salesman who will say anything to get elected. He is more likely than not to win, even in an Ohio that is now deep red.
What is the message here for Democrats? Joe Biden did his level best to pass himself off as a similar champion of labor, but he wasn’t rewarded for it. Part of that is because he was (wrongly) held responsible for inflation, while Brown, as a mere senator, was not; part of it was Biden’s inability to command the stage and persuade the public that his record on the economy was a good one; and part of it was the fact that Biden had to speak for booming blue states as well as struggling red ones. Populism doesn’t play as well in California as it does in Ohio.