For Immediate Release: Aug. 18, 2025
IBEW Endorses Sherrod Brown for 2026 Senate
“The working men and women of IBEW in Ohio have no more consistent partner or friend than Sherrod Brown, and he has our wholehearted support in his bid to return to the U.S. Senate,” said IBEW International President Kenneth W. Cooper.
“Our endorsement, which we hope will be his first for 2026, doesn’t require a review of Sherrod Brown’s congressional record or a check of his union credentials: he has stood with the IBEW and working families on every vote, policy, and regulation during his five decades in public service. Sherrod Brown understands that voting with the IBEW means voting for working families everywhere and especially in the great state of Ohio.
“Sherrod Brown is profoundly qualified by any yardstick, but his accomplishments on behalf of union labor underscore a fearless commitment to workers that both Ohio and the nation desperately need. I have been in meetings with Sherrod Brown; I have heard him ask time and again, “How does this benefit families in Ohio?” Strong labor standards, middle-class wages, real retirements, and community-sustaining infrastructure built with good union jobs have been at the heart of his leadership. And the proof is on record,” Cooper said.
“Sherrod Brown’s decisive leadership in Congress resulted in real wins for working people, not soundbites,” Cooper said. “He was vital to rescuing pensions in the hard-won battle to pass the Butch Lewis Act just four years ago. He introduced countless pro-worker bills like the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, and he secured long term jobs with much-needed infrastructure. The laws he helped pass put Americans to work across the country, and in Ohio in particular. It is his vision that’s responsible for the resurgence Ohio is undergoing right now: a clean energy boom, the return of manufacturing, and the recovery of communities abandoned long ago.”
There is no better champion for working families across the United States than Sherrod Brown,”
said IBEW International Secretary Paul Noble. “He has demonstrated leadership in the Senate, bringing back jobs everywhere, and particularly in the state of Ohio. For decades Ohioans watched factories and good-paying jobs disappear. Sherrod Brown has led the charge for the current boom happening in Ohio now, bringing back technology and good family sustaining jobs for Ohio.”
“I grew up in one of those forgotten communities, Portsmouth, Ohio,” said IBEW Fourth District International Vice President Austin Keyser, whose district covers the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. “Since the beginning of my career, there is one thing Ohioans could always be proud of: our senator was one of the most reliable champions of workers in modern history. It is an honor to once again stand behind a leader who believes in the citizens of overlooked places like my hometown and understands the power of unions to change their lives.”
“Sherrod Brown and I come from the same small town,” Cooper said. “His dedication to working families is rooted in that shared history. He knows what it takes to revive communities and is willing to push for what works, even when it’s unpopular. Because that’s when it counts the most.
“As a fellow Ohioan, I have witnessed his career-long allegiance to the labor movement. Not just at rallies and picket lines, but in the rooms where policy is made out of public view. He has been a loud, clear voice for union labor: worker protections, prevailing wages, and collective bargaining are part of every platform he has run on, which is why the IBEW has endorsed him in every election and endorses him again today.”
The IBEW represents 27,000 Ohioans and over 860,000 skilled electrical workers nationwide, and they have no stronger advocate than Sherrod Brown. The IBEW is proud to help return this proven, battle-tested leader to the Senate where he can once again defend union labor and the working families who depend on it.
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The IBEW represents approximately 860,000 members and retirees who work in a wide variety of fields, including construction, utilities, manufacturing, telecommunications, broadcasting, railroads and government.