For Joe Biden, who is nearing his own decision about running in 2020, Sherrod Brown’s withdrawal followed Michael Bloomberg’s departure as a second piece of good news this week. | Win McNamee/Getty Images 2020 elections Biden bid gets boost as 2020 field shrinks ‘I just wish there were more Midwesterners,’ said Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

A Democratic presidential primary that once looked like it would have a little of everything suddenly seems to have some gaps.

Sherrod Brown’s announcement Thursday that he will not run for president left the crowded field with just one senator from the Midwest — Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. And it also served to bolster the fortunes of two septuagenarian white men in a primary marked by an unusual degree of gender, racial and geographical diversity.


With the Ohio senator following former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and former Attorney General Eric Holder to the exits, more Democrats declared in one week that they will not run for president than that those who said they will.

“I just wish there more Midwesterners," Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Thursday. "I’m more depressed by the news that Sherrod's not getting in than anything else.”

Brown was never polling in the top tier of primary contenders. But for many Democrats, his departure was a wrenching reminder of the party’s collapse in the Midwest in 2016, when Donald Trump swept through the Rust Belt, flipping once-Democratic states red on his way to the White House.

“I strongly regret that Brown is not getting in the race because I think if we’re going to win, we have to concentrate on four states, and that’s Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan,” said former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who ran for president in 2008. “That’s my biggest concern, that the Midwest is not represented in the race.”

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The exception, he noted, is Klobuchar, saying, “Sherrod getting out will help her. … This is her big chance, I believe, to shine, to get out there, to become a serious top-tier candidate.”

Brown, a populist who toured early nominating states heralding “the dignity of work,” was widely viewed as potentially drawing support from Biden, as well as from fellow progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). But for Biden, who is nearing his own decision about running in 2020, Brown’s withdrawal followed Bloomberg’s departure as a second piece of good news this week.

"I would think of all the candidates or potential candidates running that Sherrod’s decision of not running would be most significant for Biden," said former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who is supporting Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for president and added that Brown's departure "makes it a little easier for me to be for Inslee."

"I mean Biden’s been talking about the dignity of work forever,” Strickland said. “I think Sherrod and Biden would have a similar message when it comes to those working unions."

Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016, said, “I don’t think, in our modern-day politics, that any candidate can clear the field per se, and I think that’s a dangerous thought process, because every voter deserves to be heard and pursued." However, he added, “the Biden vehicle takes up lots of space on the political highway, which leaves not much room for other cars to travel.”

Yet there are lower-profile Democratic contenders who could also benefit from Brown’s absence, including Democrats with ties to the Midwest and Mountain West. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is running for president, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio are both considering campaigns.

“It does open up a lane for the more centrist, more pragmatic folks that are possibly getting into the race — the Joe Bidens, the Steve Bullocks,” said Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Polk County Democrats in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Still, for Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, Bagniewski said, “I don’t know if there’s that much of a difference” between candidates from the coasts and the Midwest.

Trump succeeded in the region despite his lack of residency there. And in a Democratic primary field that already has 14 candidates, the withdrawals of four prominent Democrats this week in some ways pointed less to the primary’s limitations than its potential to further expand.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Monday that his is running for president, and he is heading to Iowa on Friday. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas is widely expected to run, and several other Democrats are still considering it.

“With Sherrod Brown’s departure, does it change the world?” said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist based in New York. “There are so many so-called populists in [the Democratic primary] that even a real populist like Sherrod Brown would be lost.”

In addition to Sanders, Warren and O’Rourke, he said, “From the Midwest and the Central West, you have Hickenlooper, Klobuchar, and you have populists who represent a stream of politics that very much … represents the politics" of the Midwest.

In announcing that they would not run, Merkley and Brown suggested their absence would not leave an ideological hole in the primary campaign. Merkley said, “I believe that there are Democrats now in the presidential race who are speaking to the importance of tackling the big challenges we face.”

And in a more specific reference to the causes he championed, Brown said, “We’ve seen candidates begin taking up the dignity of work fight, and we have seen voters across the country demanding it — because dignity of work is a value that unites all of us.”

Nor are Democrats unaccustomed to seeing their field contract before its swells. Before Brown, Bloomberg, Holder and Merkley got out, billionaire Tom Steyer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, among others, announced they would not run for president. And Brown may soon return to 2020 circulation as a potential candidate for vice president.

"I think Brown is on the automatic VP list," said Dan Sena, a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Yet Brown's departure from the presidential field appeared to hit harder than most. Matt Bennett of the center-left group Third Way, said Thursday that he was “kind of sad about Sherrod Brown.”

“I worry a little,” he said. “Bullock is probably coming in and Amy’s in. But if you consider that the most important thing for Democrats is winning back three Midwestern states or two plus Pennsylvania … it would be great if we had a little more Midwestern blood in the race.”

Holly Otterbein and Nolan McCaskill contributed to this report.

