Husted and Brown pitch competing visions as Ohio's $500 million Senate race hits its final days
Editorial illustrationOhio voters will decide Tuesday whether to keep Sen. Jon Husted in office or return former Sen. Sherrod Brown to the Senate, closing out a special election for Vice President JD Vance's old seat that has drawn $500 million in campaign and outside-group ad spending.
Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted, then his lieutenant governor, to the seat in January 2025 after Vance resigned to become vice president. Brown held Ohio's other Senate seat from 2007 until he lost it to Sen. Bernie Moreno in 2024. Because this is a special election, the winner will serve the remaining two years of the term — and will soon face questions about running again in 2028.
The outcome in Ohio, along with other key states such as Texas and Michigan, could shape Senate control for the remainder of President Donald Trump's time in the White House. Nationally, 35 Senate seats are on the ballot Tuesday, along with all 435 House seats, according to Reuters.
Both candidates are casting themselves as the change Ohio needs. Husted, who has stood by Trump and fellow Republicans on tax cuts, Medicaid changes, tariffs and the war with Iran, told supporters after a campaign event in Vandalia on October 29: "I'm fighting for Ohio values. He's been fighting for D.C. values and the Washington establishment. You can't keep electing the same old Sherrod Brown and expect different results." In an ad that began airing October 23, Husted, football in hand, said Brown "has spent 50 years in office" and "keeps running the same old tired plays that have set us back."
Brown, seeking redemption after his 2024 loss, has argued that angst over Trump, corruption and the cost of living will propel him to victory. "Pedophiles, big corporations, billionaires: what do they have in common? They own Jon Husted," Brown said during a campaign rally in Dayton on October 27. "Jon Husted works for them, and we all pay for it. Ohioans don't have anyone fighting for you – until November."
The two campaigns offer sharply different versions of Ohio's economy. Husted touts the state's recent ranking as the best state for business, saying years of Republican leadership have cut red tape and lowered taxes to lure development. He also points to the law signed by Trump in 2025 that eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and increased the Child Tax Credit.
Brown counters that many Ohioans are still struggling: inflation jumped to 3.7% in September, the average price of gas remains above $4 a gallon despite Ohio's gas tax holiday, and around 161,000 Ohioans dropped coverage under the Affordable Care Act after Congress allowed enhanced subsidies to expire and premiums increased. "Families see more money going out the door, not enough money coming in to pay for health care, utilities and groceries, to pay for everything," Brown said in Dayton. "And no one in the U.S. Senate is standing up to these corporations who game the system and raise your prices."
Data centers have become another flashpoint. Brown paints Husted as the "face of data centers," which have rankled communities across Ohio, and blames them for rising electric bills. Husted championed data centers as lieutenant governor, although he wasn't directly responsible for giving tax breaks to companies, as some ads claim. Senate Republicans warned early on that data centers could sink Husted's campaign; against that backdrop, Husted pushed for legislation to encourage — but not require — states to make data centers pay for their own electricity. Brown called the bill toothless. "It gets over to the Senate, and Sherrod Brown's buddy Chuck Schumer blocks it. Why? Just so that I wouldn't be successful at solving a problem," Husted told reporters in Wilmington on October 19. "I get it. It's their politics. But they're making people suffer as a result of their political games."
The race has also been shaped by its high-profile surrogates. Brown joined Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton in Cleveland for a rally with former President Barack Obama, and appeared with John Legend and members of The National. Trump visited Ohio three times, while Husted toured the state with top Senate Republicans.
A Suffolk University–USA TODAY Ohio Network poll suggests the race is anyone's ballgame — and third-party candidates may complicate the outcome. Also on the ballot are Libertarian Bill Redpath and independent Greg Levy, a socialist, who had a combined 3% in the Suffolk poll — not much, but potentially enough to sway a close race.
Both parties have tried to use the smaller candidacies to their advantage. A Republican-backed organization has spent more than $2.3 million to boost Levy, according to campaign finance records, while a political action committee tied to a Democratic nonprofit sent text messages touting Redpath. The Ohio Democratic Party sent flyers, authorized by Brown's campaign, that call Redpath a "proud supporter of gun rights" who will balance the federal budget. Levy's campaign called these efforts "undemocratic." Redpath said it is an "unfortunate manifestation" of the current political system and that he is running to provide voters with an alternative to Brown and Husted. "If we had ranked choice voting, then I don't think you'd see this going on," Redpath said. "Instead, you'd see candidates such as Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted trying to reach out beyond their base to address the concerns of Libertarians or the concerns of true socialists."
Sources: The Columbus Dispatch (Oct 31, 2026); Suffolk University–USA TODAY Ohio Network poll, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch (Oct 31, 2026); Reuters (Oct 31, 2026).
Sponsored