He’s a scrappy liberal politician from a a state Democrats would like to win in 2020, but today Sen. Sherrod Brown said no thanks to a White House bid.

That’s bad news for progressives who had hoped to support a younger and less divisive Bernie Sanders who is also a proven Midwestern vote-getter.

Brown said he believes the best way for him to serve the country is in the Senate.

“I will keep calling out Donald Trump and his phony populism. I will keep fighting for all workers across the country. And I will do everything I can to elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Senate in 2020,” Brown said in a statement.

“The best place for me to make that fight is in the United States Senate.”

Speculation of a 2020 run for Brown had swirled since our post on JimHeath.TV last October, before he easily won reelection to his Senate seat in November despite losses by other Ohio Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray.

In our post we wrote:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The goal for Democrats in 2020 should be to flip the Midwest firewall states back blue. Do that and Supreme Court nominees are back under your control. So who can best lead the ticket in 2020? Of all the perspective Democratic nominees, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s senior senator, makes the most sense. [/perfectpullquote]

Browns victory was seen by many as a sign of his political strength in the Midwest, a region that Democrats are eager to win in 2020 after President Trump seized it in 2016 on the way to an Electoral College victory.

In January, Brown rolled out his “Dignity of Work” tour, a cross-country expedition that brought him to several key early primary states and further fueled speculation of a potential presidential run.

He was regarded by many pundits as the “less-radical and more electable” life-long progressive than Sanders who many fear would leave centrists with no place to go in a race against President Trump.

Brown on Thursday said that he would continue to push his “dignity of work” message in the presidential race but not do so as a candidate.

“It is how we beat Trump, and it is how we should govern,” said Brown. “That’s why I’m confident it will continue to be a focus for Democrats in 2020, and I plan on making sure that happens.”

Had he entered the race, he would have faced a crowded Democratic primary field that already includes Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Cory Booker, Sec. Julian Castro, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Gov. Jay Inslee, and Sen. Kamala Harris.

Also looming over the current field of Democratic contenders is a political giant: former Vice President Joe Biden, who is said to be nearing a 2020 announcement.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), who garnered rockstar status last year during his Senate bid against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), is also considering a presidential run of his own.

In putting his 2020 ambitions to rest, Brown becomes the latest Democrat to duck out of a potential presidential run this week.

Since Monday, three other would-be candidates have announced that they won’t mount White House bids, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party’s 2016 nominee, also said she would not run, though she had not been considered likely to launch a campaign