Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist who spent much of her career at The Cleveland Plain Dealer shared what it was like on Election Night when her husband, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, learned that his time representing the Buckeye State was coming to an end.
Brown was one of the few remaining high-profile progressive voices left representing Ohio as the state shifted red in 2016. He took office in 2006 after he defeated now Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. His 2024 opponent, Republican Bernie Moreno, a car dealer, defeated him on Election Day.
Shultz recalled in a post on her Substack the complicated and often awkward early days of her relationship with Brown. As a columnist at a major Ohio newspaper, dating a politician raised ethical questions in the world of journalism and drew a lot of attention..
"At the advice of colleagues and friends, I had agreed to the Cleveland Magazine profile in the hope that it would put it all to rest. This was hilariously naïve of all of us. What a disaster," she writes. "What I didn’t realize then, but would soon learn, is that our marriage would be a public one, always."
Shultz said she was never more aware of the public nature of her marriage than on Election Day 2024 when it became apparent that her husband was not going to emerge victorious at the end of the night.
"About three hours after the polls had closed, our most trusted advisers asked to meet with us in our bedroom. We knew by their faces that they were about to confirm what Sherrod had already started noticing in the numbers. Our path to victory was narrowing," she writes. "Soon, it would disappear."
She said she appreciated the honesty from Brown's advisers, and that her thoughts immediately shifted to the need for her and her husband to be strong for his supporters and their family, who would no doubt be disappointed by Brown's defeat.
"We knew we had to be strong for them, and for hundreds of campaign staffers and supporters waiting for us in the ballroom," she writes.
She knew her husband's defeat would be "one of the most public moments of our marriage" and thought back to the advice that she gave her children about bravery: "in moments of uncertainty ... act brave and the courage will come."
Shultz said in the aftermath of his defeat, her husband and his senior managers are working to find jobs for all of his staff members who will be out of work when his term ends.
"I love Sherrod for many reasons, but top of the list this week is his concern for these remarkable public servants," she writes. "We are really going to miss them, but we look forward to seeing what they do next."
Shutlz's full thoughts and further stories can be found at her Substack.
