Battleground Dem feels heat after Biden's debate as party turmoil continues

Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, speaks during a hearing with Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States Jerome Powell on the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress at the U.S. Capitol on July 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is being slammed for his political similarity to President Biden as the president's poor June debate performance continues to pose concerns to Democrats in down-ballot races and on Capitol Hill.

"Joe Biden's politics now are not much different from mine," Brown says in the ad from Republican candidate Bernie Moreno's campaign. His quote comes from a 2021 interview. 

The ad notes the vulnerable Democrat's proclivity to vote in line with Biden, with a narrator saying, "Extreme liberal Sherrod Brown voted with Biden 99% of the time." 

The campaign cited an analysis of Senate votes during the 117th Congress in 2021 and 2022, which showed Brown siding with Biden 98.5% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight. 

In 2023, during the first half of the 118th Congress, Brown voted with the president 97.9% of the time, per a separate FiveThirtyEight aggregation. 

"Sherrod Brown votes with Biden 99% of the time for his disastrous agenda that has destroyed our economy, created a wide open southern border, waged war on American energy, and sold out Ohio workers," said Moreno spokesperson Reagan McCarthy in a statement. "Brown can try to run from his record of voting in lockstep with his longtime friend Joe Biden, but Ohioans know that he has rubber-stamped this administration's agenda every step of the way."

The ad is part of a seven-figure statewide ad buy that will run on digital and streaming as well as through the mail.