CLEVELAND, Ohio – Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke said Monday in an exclusive interview with cleveland.com that Republican President Donald Trump’s attack of a union leader in Lordstown was “absolutely shameful.”

O’Rourke, a 46-year-old former congressman from Texas, is the latest Democrat to throw his name into the 2020 race. He visited Cleveland on Monday, rallying a capacity crowd of hundreds at Gino’s Cento Anno, a working-class bar in Old Brooklyn just down the road from the ArcelorMittal steelmaking plant.

Trump drew rebukes from Ohio Democrats when over the weekend he attacked United Auto Workers Local 1112 President Dave Green, the head of the union representing workers in the now-idled General Motors factory in Lordstown. More than 1,700 people lost their jobs as a result of GM ceasing operations at the facility.

“Democrat UAW Local 1112 President David Green ought to get his act together and produce,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “G.M. let our Country down, but other much better car companies are coming into the U.S. in droves. I want action on Lordstown fast. Stop complaining and get the job done! 3.8% Unemployment!”

Thus far, Democrats in the crowded presidential primary to challenge Trump in 2020 have yet to pounce on what seems like a golden political opportunity.

Trump carried Ohio by more than 8-percentage points in 2016, largely off the serious inroads he made off disaffected workers in the Mahoning Valley.

“The one thing I wouldn’t do is what we just saw the president of the United States do, which is to add insult to injury,” O’Rourke said Monday during the interview with cleveland.com. “Demean those workers. Insult the union president. At the time that they’re losing more than 14,000 jobs, he’s laying the blame at their feet. Absolutely counterproductive and insulting if you ask me.”

Exclusive Beto O’Rourke interview in Cleveland. Hannah Drown and Seth Richardson are with the presidential candidate. What would you ask him if you had the chance? Let us know in the comments. Posted by cleveland.com on Monday, March 18, 2019

It was part of the political savvy O’Rourke showed in his inaugural visit to Ohio less than a week after declaring for president. Hundreds gathered at the hot, dimly lit bar for a chance to see O’Rourke, the unlikely upstart candidate who lost his most recent race challenging Texas Sen. Ted. Cruz in 2018.

O’Rourke has commanded a fervent following since he came to national prominence. On Monday, the bar was packed by 2:30 p.m., more than an hour-and-a-half before O’Rourke would even arrive. The crowd spilled out onto the chilly patio of the tavern.

By 4 p.m., with hundreds flanking his planned entrance, O’Rourke arrived, quickly leaping up on a table outside to address the crowd – a favorite campaign schtick for him.

“Together, we have to set the example of bringing this country – so divided, so polarized at this moment – together around the big challenges that face us,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke is an unlikely candidate in unlikely times. A former punk rocker and tech entrepreneur, he’s the first true Generation X candidate at 46 years old.

And he appears to be approaching the race differently than some of his peers, aiming for the middle of the country rather than playing to the base.

After briefly rallying those waiting outside – snapping selfies along the way – O’Rourke made his way to the bar. Perhaps taking a note from former President Barack Obama, O’Rourke on Monday preached unity and the need to transcend partisan politics.

“This campaign is going to be the largest grassroots effort this country has ever seen,” he told the crowd inside Gino’s, the sleeves on his collared shirt rolled up and sweat pouring down his face. “If we wait until January of 2021 to start bringing the country together, I guarantee you it is going to be too late. We have to campaign in the way we wish to serve.”

“It’s going to take an entire country,” O’Rourke added. “We can’t do it by half measure. It cannot just be half of us. It can’t just be Democrats or Republicans. It’s got to be Americans. If you think of any challenge we face, we’re going to make sure we’re listening to everyone.”

If that sounds familiar, it should. Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, on his recent flirtation with the presidency, pitched a more pragmatic approach to politics based on progressive ideals.

O’Rourke obviously took note, taking time to praise Brown and his slogan, the “dignity of work."

“I think Sen. Brown has been an unparalleled leader on this issue, in addition to coining the phrase which so many other officeholders have since used,” O’Rourke told cleveland.com.

O’Rourke said he also talked to Brown before his Cleveland visit.

“I’ve said all along that dignity of work should be a centerpiece for Democrats in 2020 because it’s how we win and how we should govern,” Brown said. "I will talk with every candidate who wants to and do everything I can to elect a Democratic President.”

While short on specifics on a plethora of issues in the Democratic primary – climate change, universal health care and college affordability, to name a few – he showed plenty of pep and the awareness to take the local issue of Lordstown and apply it to his message.

When asked what he would do about situations like Lordstown, O’Rourke offered cleveland.com a critique of the business climate in America, saying “mistakes” like trade deals that favor foreign labor and Trump’s tax cuts, which he said favor the wealthy, can never be made again.

“The Constitution is interpreted by the current Supreme Court to say that corporations are people,” he said. “We should expect more of them in the way that they treat people in these communities.”

When pressed for more specific answers on Lordstown itself, O’Rourke said the most important action he could take would be to listen to the community on what it needs.

Still, whether through political shrewdness or sincerity, O’Rourke did something Monday that no candidate has in addressing Lordstown front-and-center. Following his Cleveland visit, he hopped in his minivan to drive to Lordstown and meet with Green himself.

“I just want to tell you that so many of us around the country, although you might have been lit up a little bit by the president, are so proud of the way you conducted yourself,” O’Rourke said during a Facebook Live broadcast of the meeting. “You kept this about your membership, about the workers, about the community, about the country at its best. And so I just think that's a great example. We just wanted to come and say thank you, learn a little bit from you and make sure that we help to carry this message that you have started here and do everything we can to be helpful.”

While O’Rourke has generally been met with enthusiasm during his five days on the campaign trail, he’s stumbled along the way. He’s had to apologize for past writings that included dark subject matters and for off-color jokes. Activists have been unimpressed with his vague answers on specific policy issues.

“People can be nasty and mean on Twitter, but there are some people who are raising legitimate questions and criticisms,” O’Rourke told cleveland.com. “And I’m a better person if I listen to them and take the best out of what they’re offering and become a better candidate and hopefully a better public servant.”

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Mandi Merritt said in a statement that O’Rourke’s were proof he would have a hard time securing the nomination.

“It’s been a rough few days for 2020 candidate Beto O’Rourke," Merritt said. "From his campaign turning into an apology tour less than 48 hours after announcing, to flip flopping on the issues and his past GOP ties, O’Rourke is going to have a tough time living up to his party’s litmus tests and convincing the progressive base that he should be their nominee.”

That O’Rourke is focusing on Ohio so early in his campaign is a bit of a surprise, especially with early states like Iowa and New Hampshire being far more important early-on in the primary. National Democrats have been quick to label the state as in Trump’s grasp.

“It’s a really important place,” Brown told cleveland.com. “The premise of this campaign is that everyone, everywhere is important. You can’t just say that. You have to demonstrate it. You have to show up.”

So far, only O’Rourke, businessman Andrew Yang and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, have visited the state. California Sen. Kamala Harris is slated to speak at the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party dinner in April.