Sherrod Brown wins back Ohio Senate seat from Jon Husted

Brown becomes the seventh former senator to return since 1946

Democratic former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown won back a seat on Capitol Hill on Nov. 3, 2026, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted after a close and expensive Ohio campaign, NPR reported, citing an Associated Press race call. Polls had shown the race close throughout the year, and the result gives Democrats the seat in a state President Trump carried in each of the last three presidential cycles.

Brown’s return followed three terms in office and a 2024 loss to Bernie Moreno. AdImpact had ranked that 2024 contest as the most expensive non-presidential election on record at the time, a distinction that now belongs to the 2026 Senate race in Texas. Brown is the seventh former U.S. senator since 1946 to lose a seat and later return to the Senate.

Husted was making his first run for the U.S. Senate. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to the seat in January 2023 after Vance became vice president. Before that appointment, Husted served as speaker of the Ohio House, secretary of state and lieutenant governor.

Ohio has been a Republican stronghold for years, but Brown’s name recognition helped keep the contest close in polls throughout the year. NPR said the race attracted additional attention amid building signs of a national “blue wave” for Democrats.

The campaign started quietly, with neither candidate holding a splashy launch. Both relied on smaller events early and joined larger rallies in the final month. Brown was part of a rally led by former President Barack Obama on Oct. 24, while Husted met President Trump during Trump’s three Ohio visits in October. Trump also used those appearances to offer what NPR described as odd praise for male office-seekers’ physiques.

Data centers were one of several major campaign issues, alongside affordability, health care costs and the war in Iran. Brown made data centers a key part of his case, calling Husted “the face of data centers” in Ohio because of Husted’s involvement with such deals when he was lieutenant governor.

A leaked National Republican Senatorial Committee memo defined data centers as “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck” and suggested that if Husted lost, it would affect future races around the country. NPR said it had not independently confirmed the memo’s authenticity, leaving its contents unverified.

Brown far outraised Husted, and the two candidates together brought in more than $80 million. According to AdImpact, Ohio was the only state with a close U.S. Senate race in which Democrats had more broadcast television advertisements than Republicans.

Separately, as of mid-October, the candidates and outside groups had spent more than $422 million in Ohio, making the race one of the most expensive U.S. Senate contests in the country.

The election filled the remainder of the term JD Vance was elected to in 2022, leaving Brown assured of only two more years in the chamber. Brown will have to run for reelection in 2028 to keep the seat. His victory over Husted completes a return after his 2024 defeat and gives Democrats an Ohio senator in a state President Trump carried in the last three presidential cycles.