Republicans in the state of Ohio, and across the country, have been rallying around freshman Sen. Jon Husted this week after Democrat Sherrod Brown, who represented Ohio in the Senate for almost 20 years before being unseated last year, announced he is running for Husted’s seat.
"Sherrod Brown’s recent announcement means Ohioans will face a clear choice in 2026," Jon Husted for Senate Communications Director Tyson Shepard told Fox News Digital.
"For 30 years, he has imposed Washington’s problems on Ohio, pushing radical liberal policies that have left a lasting burden on the next generation. Jon Husted offers the opposite approach, applying Ohio’s values and solutions to fix a broken Washington. The challenges our nation faces are the same ones Husted has helped our state confront and overcome, championing the values he learned growing up in northwest Ohio: hard work, personal responsibility, family, faith, freedom and patriotism."
Republicans across the Buckeye State have echoed similar sentiments this week expressing optimism that Husted, who was appointed to the Senate earlier this year by Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat vacated when J.D. Vance left the Senate to become vice president, will defeat Brown next year.
Senator Jon Husted, a Republican from Ohio, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, who defeated Brown last year despite entering the race as an underdog in the polls, said on X this week, "After 50 years of living off the tax payer, losing an election by a wide margin with $300 million in out of state money, abandoning working Ohioans to be Chuck Schumer’s lap dog, and sucking up to coastal elites, it’s time for @SherrodBrown to just go away."
"Ohio is lucky to have @SenJonHusted in the Senate!," Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan posted on X after Brown’s announcement.
DeWine has commented on the race as well, calling Brown a "formidable" candidate but saying that he believes Husted "will win."
Ohio Republican Congressman Max Miller told AM 1420 The Answer this week that he has "no idea what Brown is thinking getting back into this race" adding, "Men in women's sports, open borders, selling out to China? Ohioans don't like that."
Republican leaders outside the state of Ohio are lining up behind Husted as well, including Senator and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott, who said about Brown on X, "We beat him once. We’ll beat him again."
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, walks through the U.S. Capitol in July. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Support for Husted has also come from some corners of Ohio that historically would have been fond of Brown, who has championed himself as a candidate of the working class over the past 20 years, as evidenced by endorsements he has received this week from the sheriff of Brown’s home county and an endorsement from the Northwest Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council (NWOBCTC), which represents 18 affiliated local unions and thousands of skilled workers across eight Ohio counties.
"More momentum for @JonHusted," Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who ran in the Republican primary to unseat Brown last year, posted on X in response to the Northwest Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council endorsement.
"While Sherrod Brown talks a big game his record tells a different story. He has toed the line for coastal elites focusing on their radical leftist agenda and ignoring the needs of Ohios working families. Jon actually fights for Ohio workers and this is a well earned endorsement!"
Brown, who spent over three decades representing Ohio in the House and later the Senate, was highly recruited by top national Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who made two trips to the Buckeye state to try and convince Brown to run again.
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Ohio Lt Gov. Jon Husted speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States on July 15, 2024. (Getty Images)
Husted, who has served as Ohio's Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State, has Trump's endorsement as he runs next year to fill the final two years of Vance's six-year term.
"I didn’t plan to run for office again, but when I see what’s going on, I know I can do something about it for Ohio," Brown, who served as chair of the Senate Banking Committee during his tenure in D.C., said in a campaign launch video.
Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), argued in a statement that "no one fights harder for Ohio than Sherrod Brown. From securing Ohioans’ retirement and Social Security benefits to cracking down on fentanyl from China and Mexico, Sherrod will always do what’s right for Ohioans."
The X account belonging to the DSCC has been actively touting Brown's announcement, labeling Brown as a candidate who is "looking out for Ohio workers' and accusing Husted of "selling out Ohioans’" with his support for Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."
Ohio was once a top general election battleground state, but has turned increasingly red over the past decade. Trump carried the state by 11 points over then-Vice President Kamala Harris. But Brown outperformed the top of the ticket, losing to Moreno by less than four points.
The party not holding the White House typically experiences strong turnout in midterm elections and Democrats are optimistic about a strong showing with Trump not on the ballot to boost Republican turnout but Republican Vivek Ramaswamy running for governor of Ohio in 2026 could help alleviate that issue along with lingering negative attitudes toward the Biden administration.
"Having Sherrod on the ticket and asking Ohio voters who were strongly supportive of President Trump and the mission of our party, whether they want to go backwards, that’ll be a strong turnout argument for us with our party faithful in Ohio," Ohio Republican Party Chair Alex Triantafilou told Spectrum News. "Because we cannot return to the days of Sherrod Brown and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."
Brown is the second top recruit Senate Democrats have landed this year, in addition to Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina, as they work to try and win back the chamber's majority next year. The GOP currently holds a 53-47 majority in the Senate.