Lewandowski says Sherrod Brown would be formidable 2020 Trump opponent

LIBERTY

Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, said he sees U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown as one of the president’s more formidable Democratic opponents in 2020 should he become a candidate.

In a Tuesday interview with The Vindicator, Lewandowski said: “If [former Vice President] Joe Biden or Sherrod Brown were to get into the race, they would have an opportunity to compete in the blue-collar states that Donald Trump won the last cycle, that [U.S. Sens.] Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris cannot compete in, specifically in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan. The path for the 2020 campaign once again, as always, runs through Ohio.”

Lewandowski and David Bossie, Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager, were the keynote speakers at an Ohio Republican Party fundraiser at Youngstown Country Club. The event was closed to the media, but the two gave a joint interview to the newspaper after the luncheon.

When asked to comment on Brown further, Lewandowski said, “My question to Sherrod Brown is: What is your signature achievement for all of the years you have served in Congress? One bill. You tell me what it’s done to make the people’s lives of Ohio better and I don’t think anybody in the 88 counties of Ohio can answer that question.”

When Brown launched his “Dignity of Work” tour Jan. 30 before going to Iowa, he pointed to several accomplishments including making the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit permanent, extended the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and getting the Leveling the Playing Field Act approved to “make it easier for American companies to stand up to countries that cheat our trade laws.”

Lewandowski said it’s too early in the campaign to gauge the field – Brown is visiting early presidential primary and caucus states and Biden hasn’t announced if he’s running – but he also said that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “ability to self-fund the campaign to the tune of $1 billion” would “make him a formidable candidate.”

Read more of their remarks in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.