Sen. Sherrod Brown says he won't attend Democratic National Convention

Watch a January interview with Sen. Sherrod Brown in the player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Locked in a fierce reelection campaign that may decide which party controls the Senate, Sherrod Brown said that he is skipping the Democratic National Convention.

Brown said he wouldn't attend in a weekend interview with CNN. As Vice President Kamala Harris rises to the top of the Democratic ticket after Joe Biden declined to seek a second term, Brown may be seeking to distance himself from her as he tries to convince voters he's a better option in the Senate for Ohio than his Republican challenger, Bernie Moreno.

“I’ve got my own schedule,” Brown told CNN. “She’s got her own schedule. I will focus on my race. My strategy is perhaps different from hers … talking about the differences on abortion rights and on the minimum wage between Bernie Moreno and me and how I fight every day for the dignity of work.”

Brown, 71, may be Ohio's most prominent Democrat as he seeks a fourth term in the Senate. His campaign has focused on discrediting Moreno, 57, who's never held public office, in the eyes of some Republicans and independent voters, a tough task considering that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, won Ohio by eight percentage points in 2020.

But Brown downplayed the look of him not attending the convention, set for next week in Chicago.

“I often skip conventions,” he said.

Moreno did attend the Republican National Convention last month in Milwaukee, telling voters that he'd limit himself to two six-year terms in the Senate if elected.

“That’s what you’re seeing with President Trump, with vice president nominee JD Vance, with my race, with others around the country," he said. "People just want outsiders to fix D.C.”