Brown listening to Biden doubters

SANDUSKY — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat seeking re-election, says he is listening to voters who say President Joe Biden should end his campaign. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, another Democrat running for re-election, says she believes Biden "will do his very best for our nation." She's also running for another term, facing a challenge from Republican nominee Derek Merrin, a state representative. During an event in Youngstown, a reporter for a local TV station, WKBN-TV, asked Brown, "A number of your colleagues are publicly suggesting the President not run for reelection. Where do you stand on that? And if you're not looking at that, what do you think of the effort by some in your party to suggest the president step aside?" "I'm not going to judge people in my party, what they're saying or what Republicans are saying," Brown responded. "I'm not a pundit. I've talked to people across Ohio. They have legitimate questions about whether the president should continue his campaign, and I'll keep listening to people." The Brown campaign released a transcript of the exchange, confirming its accuracy. Democrats have been debating whether Biden should continue after a recent CNN debate performance against former president Donald Trump that raised further questions about whether the president has become too old to be effective. Biden has insisted that he's the nominee and he's not going anywhere. Brown is being challenged for re-election by Republican nominee Bernie Moreno. Two elections analysis groups, Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball, currently rate the Ohio Senate election as a tossup. The Cook report says that Ohio is a "solid" state for Donald Trump this year, and the Sabato report says Ohio is "safe" for the GOP presidential ticket this year. Trump already has carried Ohio twice. Kaptur so far has said little about the debate over Trump, but she addressed it Tuesday when questioned by a Washington Post reporter. "I know Joe Biden loves this country," Kaptur told the Post. "And I have faith that he will do his very best for our nation. Now, I have my own race to run. He has a race to run … I have faith that he will make the right decision." The issue has recently become the main Republican talking point for attacks on her campaign, with Republicans demanding that Kaptur speak out directly on whether Biden should stay or go. On Tuesday, Mike Marinella, the Midwest spokesman for the The National Republican Congressional Committee, noted that 11 days have passed since the debate and that Kaptur has not discussed Biden's fitness to continue as a candidate. "Marcy Kaptur thinks she can run and hide from Joe Biden but the truth is, she and other Democrats enabled this massive cover up of Biden's cognitive decline. The question is simple: 'Does Marcy Kaptur think Joe Biden is fit to serve as President?'" Marinella said.