Republican businessman Bernie Moreno will become the next Senator from Ohio in Jan. 2025 after defeating longtime Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Fox News has called the race as of 11:14 on Nov. 8, with Moreno at 50.6% of the vote and Brown at 46.1% with 91% of the votes in. Decision Desk HQ has also called the race for Moreno as of 11:17 with Moreno at 50.7% of the vote and Brown at 46% with 86% of the votes accounted for.
Brown had served as a U.S. Senator since January 2007, following a 14-year stint in the House of Representatives. Moreno, meanwhile, moved from Bogota, Colombia, to the U.S. at age five, and built a luxury car dealership empire that helped him attain an estimated net worth between $25.5 million and $105.7 million.
Brown outspent Moreno by nearly four-to-one, spending $86,050,236 compared to Moreno’s $21,310,662, according to OpenSecrets data published on Oct. 16. Including outside spending, the Senate race was one of the costliest in the country, totaling over $425 million.
Moreno defeated Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in the Republican primary in March after receiving former President Donald Trump’s endorsement in December 2023.
Brown consistently sought to distance himself from the Biden-Harris administration, backpedaling his support for Green New Deal policies like new requirements for fossil fuel-fired power plants, and calling for President Joe Biden to drop his 2024 reelection bid following his poor June debate performance.
Brown’s Heritage Action Score, which estimates how conservative members of Congress are, also increased significantly as the November election loomed, rising to 12% for the 118th Congress — far higher than his lifetime score of 4%.
“Sherrod Brown is going to vote like this once every six years,” John McHenry, a GOP polling analyst and vice president at North Star Opinion Research, previously told the DCNF regarding Brown’s seeming rightward policy shift. “Five out of six years he’ll be pro-Green New Deal and do whatever the Senate majority leader asks of him, and the other year he’ll vote how Ohio voters actually want him to vote.”
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