It’s official: Democrat Sherrod Brown said he will run in 2026 to return to the U.S. Senate.
Brown had served three terms in the U.S. Senate before being defeated by Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno last November. Brown will face newly appointed U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, Ohio's former lieutenant governor, next November. The winning candidate will serve only the remaining two years of the term of former Sen. JD Vance. The seat will be on the 2028 ballot for the full six-year term.
In his announcement video, Brown said he hadn't intended to run for office. But he said he doesn't like what he's seen from President Trump and majority Republicans in Congress for the past eight months.
"All they’ve done is made things worse for Ohioans, handing over your hard-earned money to corporations and billionaires. Their reckless tariffs and economic chaos are increasing prices and threatening the survival of small businesses across our state,” Brown said in the video. “Instead of lowering the cost of health care, they’re raising drug prices on seniors and kicking 490,000 hardworking Ohioans off their coverage. And they increased the deficit by more than 3 trillion dollars, all while giving billionaires the largest tax cut in American history."
Brown said he believes he can "stop the craziness" and get things done for Ohio.
Brown's campaign has a familiar theme
Brown is pledging to fight for workers in a system that he said benefits corporations and billionaires at the expense of hardworking Ohioans. In previous campaigns, Brown has focused on issues facing working Ohioans and has used a slogan, "Dignity of Work." In March, Brown founded a think tank known as the "Dignity of Work Institute." Brown said the non-profit, non-partisan think tank is "dedicated to the people who make this country work, and to creating an economy and a society where Americans’ work is valued."
Some thought Brown might run for governor
After living in the Cleveland area for decades, Brown moved to Central Ohio earlier this year. That fueled speculation that he might jump into the governor's race in 2026.
Dr. Amy Acton, the former Ohio Health Department Director under DeWine, is already in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor next year. Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican tech entrepreneur who ran in an unsuccessful bid for president, is also running for governor in 2026. Ramaswamy has been endorsed by President Trump. Action has raised $1.4 million, a record for a Democratic candidate for governor at this point in the cycle. Ramaswamy has raised $9 million—also a record.
Response to Brown's announcement
Tyson Shepard, Communications Director for Jon Husted’s Senate campaign, lambasted Brown: "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."
Shepard said the challenges the 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.”
