opposition research
Republicans are preparing for a Sherrod Brown 2020 campaign
A Republican political action committee is taking the possibility of a Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) presidential bid seriously, and their opposition research has already begun.
The America Rising PAC, a group allied with President Trump, is doing opposition research on Brown's wife, Connie Schultz, BuzzFeed News reports. Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and outspoken critic of Trump who described herself as "the woman [Trump] hates" in an interview with Politico. She teaches journalism at Kent State University and would reportedly be visible on the campaign trail should Brown decide to run.
After Brown was re-elected to the Senate in November, America Rising filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain Schultz's Kent State University records, looking for her "contracts and performance evaluations," says BuzzFeed News. They reportedly received 37 pages worth of material. The PAC in a statement said that it wants to "ensure all publicly available information about a candidate is made known to voters." An adviser to Brown told BuzzFeed that it's "no surprise" that Republicans are "worried" about Brown's 2020 potential.
Brown has been weighing a possible 2020 bid and is planning a trip to Iowa as his chief of staff "works backstage to set up a campaign," Politico reports. Schultz has touted her husband's 2020 prospects and described him as "who these voters thought Trump was."