Vance closes the campaign in Ohio, urging voters to decide the Senate seat he left behind
Editorial illustration — Press Pass USAVice President JD Vance closed the midterm campaign in his home state on November 2, headlining an election-eve rally in Swanton, near Toledo, with Donald Trump Jr., Sen. Jon Husted and Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — a final push in a state where the Senate seat Vance himself vacated could help decide which party controls the chamber.
"I am closing out this campaign right where it all started for me, the great state of Ohio, because I know you're going to choose right tomorrow," Vance told the crowd, according to USA TODAY. It was his third trip to Ohio in less than a month, and the sixth time in the past six weeks that either Vance or President Donald Trump has campaigned in the state, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The race for Vance's old seat is the personal centerpiece of the Ohio campaign. Vance resigned the seat two years ago to become vice president, and Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted, then his lieutenant governor, to fill it until a special election could be held. The winner on November 3 will serve out the remaining two years of the term.
Husted faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his reelection bid two years ago. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, and a New York Times/Siena poll released November 2 put Brown at 49 percent and Husted at 44 percent. Spending in the race has exceeded $510 million, according to AdImpact figures cited by USA TODAY.
At the Swanton rally, Vance also backed Republican Derek Merrin in Ohio's 9th Congressional District, which includes Swanton — a battleground seat long held by Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in Congress. "You can vote for the crazies, or you can vote for a guy like Derek Merrin," Vance said, before urging the crowd: "Get out and vote."
Ohio voters will also decide a closely watched race for governor between Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton. The final days of that race were reshaped by a Ramaswamy attack ad featuring Acton's estranged mother calling her daughter a liar. The ad, pulled in the final days of the campaign, drew criticism from Republicans including DeWine, who called it "deeply, deeply troubling" and urged Ramaswamy to take it down.
Democrats held their own election-eve rally in Columbus on November 2, where speakers focused on affordability and accused their opponents of serving powerful interests. "This is not about party," Acton told supporters. "This is about extreme wealth, power, special interests and ideology against the rest of us."
More than 1.7 million Ohioans had already cast ballots before Election Day, a midterm early-voting record for the state. Polls open Tuesday, November 3, at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.
Sources: USA TODAY, "Vance gave up this Ohio Senate seat. It could decide who wins the chamber" (Nov. 2, 2026); The Columbus Dispatch, "JD Vance makes final midterm pitch to Ohio as GOP, Democrats rally voters" (Nov. 2, 2026).
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