Former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has reportedly decided to mount a comeback campaign for the Senate after losing by roughly 200,000 votes during his failed 2024 reelection bid.
Brown’s decision, first reported by a local Cleveland-based outlet, capped off months of intrigue about whether the former three-term senator would enter the race against Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted or run for Ohio governor in the 2026 midterms. Though Brown is likely to face an uphill battle to unseat Husted, Democrats view the former senator as their best recruit to enter the race and help Democrats retake Senate control during the midterms — and force Republicans to divert significant financial resources to the Ohio contest.
Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno ousted Brown from his Senate seat last November by roughly four percentage points in the most expensive Senate race of the 2024 presidential cycle — with more than $440 million in spending — according to AdImpact. Moreno’s victory made Ohio one of four states in which Republicans flipped Senate seats on their way to retaking control of the upper chamber in 2024.
Brown’s forthcoming challenge against Husted is similarly expected to be one of the most expensive races of the midterms.
He has consolidated Republican support with an early endorsement from President Donald Trump and Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and is growing a war chest with roughly $2.65 million in the bank.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, is projecting confidence that Brown’s comeback bid will end in defeat. The NRSC released a memo Tuesday detailing the challenges a Brown comeback candidacy will face, including the state’s continued shift to the right over the past decade and Husted’s high statewide name recognition and track record of never losing a statewide election before.
“Ohio has experienced an electoral transformation thanks to President Trump, as evidenced by Sherrod Brown’s failed reelection in 2024,” the memorandum, first reported by Punchbowl News, states. “We will defeat him by an even wider margin the second time around with a proven winner in Senator Husted.”
“As Ohio reddens and conservative momentum grows, Sherrod Brown’s waning legacy will be that of a two-time loser – and Husted is well positioned to defeat him again,” the memorandum continues.
Trump decisively carried Ohio in all three of the presidential elections where he was the Republican nominee. In 2024, he received 55% of the state’s vote to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ 44%.
Some Democrats appealed to Brown to enter Ohio’s gubernatorial race to take on Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy instead of running for the Senate. However, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer traveled to Ohio in July to personally lobby Brown to make another run for the upper chamber, Axios first reported.
A spokesperson for Brown did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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