State

Brown blasted over billionaire donors and track record 

By Breeauna Sagdal | June 23, 2026

(WBNS 10TV screengrab)

With President Trump’s agenda riding on the outcome of November’s U.S. Senate elections, Democrats and special interests are eyeing the seat held by U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and formerly held by Vice President JD Vance.

Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was voted out of office two years ago, is hoping to return to the nation’s capital. Yet, as a career politician with a 50-year voting track record, Brown’s comeback tour and populist re-branding are beginning to attract bipartisan backlash amid campaign finance disclosures.

In a recent social media post, Brown framed the race as a “fight,” while declaring he would “take on the billionaires and corporations that are screwing you over.” While the message fits Brown’s “blue-collar populist” re-brand, critics piled on, commenting that Brown’s campaign finance records paint a different picture.

Since January, the Ohio Republican Party has similarly highlighted Brown’s $1.2 million in donations from billionaire coastal elites.

“According to Federal Election Commission filings, Brown has raised at least $1.2 million from Hollywood celebrities, entertainment executives, and donors tied to wealthy California zip codes — far removed from the communities he claims to represent,” according to the press release.

As campaign finance disclosures have continued to be released, however, Brown’s list of billionaire donors has increased significantly since January’s list of Hollywood elites and trendy socialites.

More than 40 billionaire donors have personally donated roughly $870,000 to Brown, including the Pritzker family, Bill, Rory, and Melinda Gates, George Soros, and members of the Rockefeller family, each donating the maximum personal limit.

Yet, it’s the lesser-known names of venture capitalists, Wall Street hedge fund managers, big tech multi-billionaires and a notable BlackRock nexus that have had sizable impacts on policies.

Brown, who received $53,850 from BlackRock, $71,500 from pro-Palestinian activist Philip Munger, $51,500 from billionaire hedge fund manager Nat Simons, $32,600 from venture capitalists John and Anne Doerr, has received thousands of dollars from over 40 different multi-billionaires, such as Reid Hoffman, David Shaw, and Steve Mandel who have substantial stakes tied to pensions.

While Brown references the Butch Lewis Act and the Social Security Fairness Act as two of his major legislative victories for Ohio workers, both efforts received substantial lobbying support from BlackRock and its backers.

Despite Brown’s claims of “holding Wall Street accountable,” critics point to Brown’s political contributions from Wall Street billionaires and their support for the policies he’s passed, as evidence of “socializing losses while privatizing gains,” or what economists call “economic fascism.”

Brown’s signature “fight,” the Butch Lewis Act, socialized or “bailed-out” the significant “mismanagement” of union pension funds while privatizing gains, according to critics.

Since its enactment, the measure has delivered $74.1 billion in taxpayer dollars to troubled multiemployer union pension funds facing insolvency—funds that allocate heavily to BlackRock, D.E. Shaw and Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital in return.

According to the American Academy of Actuaries, a combination of early withdrawals, worker shortages, and bankruptcies have resulted in “orphan liabilities,” across union pension funds. In addition, government employee pension funds, grossly mismanaged by states like California, have resulted in $1.9 trillion in debt, according to the Cleveland Fed.

Introduced by Brown in 2023, the “Social Security Fairness Act,” rolled back prior safeguards that once protected the mandatory savings account from government abuse, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

A report by the NTUF warned that the bill would create an unfair loophole in the benefit structure, add $233 billion to the national debt, and hasten Social Security’s insolvency by a full year.

Throughout his campaign, Brown has framed this policy as the reason that government workers “are now receiving their full Social Security payments that previously were withheld by the federal government.”

Critics, including the Social Security Advisory Board Chair, Sylvester Schieber, argued that the prior Windfall provisions were in place to prevent Social Security from going to those who had never paid into it.

“The larger problem with the legislation is it gives workers who earn salaries not covered by Social Security disproportionately generous benefits compared to workers covered under the system for all their earnings,” Schieber said. “It is an example of a well-organized special interest group claiming to be victims of unfair treatment in order to be treated more generously by public policy than 98 percent of other U.S. workers.”

As the 2026 race against Husted heats up, Brown’s donor list has continued to make headlines due to special interest backing from billionaire elites, millions from the pharmaceutical companies he’s vowed to “fight,” an eyebrow raising $194,309 from the recently embattled Cleveland Clinic – under federal investigation for performing gender reassignment surgeries on minors – among others, now fueling bipartisan criticisms.

With stakes this high, it’s unlikely that out-of-state dollars will slow down any time soon. While the mounting social media backlash for those dollars represents a broader economic debate, come November, Ohio voters will ultimately determine how that debate will shape future policies.

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