COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sherrod Brown announced Monday morning he plans to run again for U.S. Senate — and soon.
In a campaign ad released on Brown's social media, the 17-year Senate veteran said he hadn't planned to run for his seat again after losing in the 2024 election to Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman who had Donald Trump's backing.
The 2024 race was the most expensive Senate contest that cycle. The campaigns, parties and outside groups spent more than $400 million on campaign ads, according to the campaign ad tracking firm AdImpact.
"Standing up for workers. Treating everyone with dignity and respect. Working as hard as possible for the people of Ohio," reads Brown's campaign announcement. "I've tried to live my life by those principles. But these days that's not what's happening in Washington — so I'm running for Senate."
Brown, 72, has represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate since 2007. He is a lifelong Ohioan who has spent his time in office "fighting for the dignity of work, " according to his biography on Senate.gov.
But Brown isn't running to take Moreno's seat back — he's seeking the Senate seat now held by Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, 57, Ohio's former lieutenant governor under Governor Mike DeWine. Husted has also served as state senator and secretary of state and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Standing up for workers. Treating everyone with dignity and respect. Working as hard as possible for the people of Ohio.I've tried to live my life by those principles. But these days that's not what's happening in Washington—so I'm running for Senate. pic.twitter.com/RukX9yxTQi
— Sherrod Brown (@SherrodBrown) August 18, 2025
Following Brown's announcement Monday morning, Husted's campaign issued the following statement:
"Sherrod Brown's recent announcement means Ohioans will face a clear choice in 2026. 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."
Husted was appointed to succeed then-Sen. JD Vance after Vance won the 2024 election alongside Trump. Husted’s appointment to the seat expires next year. The winner of a fall 2026 special election will serve the remainder of Vance’s unexpired six-year term, which runs through 2028, and then would need to run again for a full term.
Numerous fellow Democrats in Ohio had been deferring to Brown before announcing their own plans for 2026, when every statewide executive office in Ohio is up for grabs due to term limits. Besides Senate, Brown was also weighing a run for governor. He immediately becomes the front-runner for the Democratic Senate nomination.
It’s unclear how Brown’s usual electoral advantage in name recognition might play against Husted, who spent more than 20 years as a statewide officeholder and state lawmaker. But Democratic strategists said Tuesday that a Husted-Brown race would be more centered on Ohio themes, an advantage for Brown over last year’s nationally focused contest against Moreno.
Trump’s endorsement has been a winning formula in Senate bids by both Moreno and Vance before him, who both scored wins as political newcomers even amid fields that included more experienced rivals.
Husted’s campaign spokesman Tyson Shepherd said in a statement, “Should Brown enter the race as (Senate Democratic Leader Chuck) Schumer’s handpicked candidate he will be starting in the biggest hole of his political career. He has never faced a candidate like Jon Husted.”
