Democrat Sherrod Brown unseats Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio, completing comeback bid

Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown has prevailed in one of the year’s most combative and expensive Senate races, beating Republican incumbent Jon Husted, NBC News projects.

Brown, who in 2024 lost his bid for a fourth term, will return to the chamber and serve the remaining two years of the six-year term that JD Vance won in 2022 and left after being elected vice president.

Husted, the state’s former lieutenant governor, was appointed to fill the Vance vacancy last year by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

The win cements Brown, 73, as the most successful Democrat in Ohio over the last three decades. For Husted, 59, defeat presents an uncertain future for a long-tenured officeholder.

The race between them brought an onslaught of negative TV ads. Their clash also mirrored a national climate that exposed Republican vulnerabilities on issues such as the war with Iran, a related rise in gas prices, and broader concerns about the economy and affordability. And worries over data center construction for AI companies hit particularly hard in Ohio.

In the race’s closing weeks, an ad in Ohio’s other marquee race — the battle for governor — raised concerns that backlash against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy could hurt Husted. Ramswamy’s campaign had put $4 million behind an attack ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic rival, Amy Acton. Acton has not seen her mother since her then-stepfather was charged with raping her as a child nearly 50 years ago.

As a tech-focused lieutenant governor, Husted championed data centers as a way of the future — a position that Brown and Democrats relentlessly exploited over the course of the campaign. The issue loomed as such a liability for Husted that the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in an August memo that it could doom his candidacy.

Husted, whose early endorsement from President Donald Trump helped him avoid a messy primary, also overcame concerns that he was running a half-hearted campaign. It was no secret that the Senate was not his first choice. He had been running for governor, a position he has long coveted, when the Vance vacancy shook up Ohio politics. Husted faced a potentially grueling Republican primary for governor against Vivek Ramaswamy, a friend and businessman who also was preparing to launch a campaign for the job.

Instead, Husted accepted DeWine’s appointment to Vance’s seat, while also keeping his $6 million gubernatorial war chest intact — a plan B, in the eyes of some GOP observers.

“I’m, like, an Ohio guy. D.C. is not my place,” Husted told attendees at a Stark County GOP picnic in August. “When my flight goes in on Monday, I’m a lot less happy than when I’m coming home on Thursday, right? But I understand how important it is. You have to have somebody there that knows your state, is going to fight for you.”

Brown, for his part, faced persistent scrutiny over his 50 years in public office. Husted and Republicans framed him as a career politician with little to show for it.

In addition to the data center attacks, Brown attempted to characterize Husted as an unflinching Trump loyalist who supported the Iran war and initially voted against the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Over the final weeks of the race, Trump mounted a vigorous defense to keep Husted in the seat, rallying with him in the state twice in a nine-day period. Both rallies included cameos from Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach who played football with Husted at the University of Dayton.

Trump marveled about Husted’s physical form and athleticism, of which he said he was unaware until learning about it from Gruden.

“I started examining his body because I didn’t know he was a great athlete,” Trump said at an Oct. 12 rally in Youngstown. “And I looked, and I watched up and down, and I looked at his ass, and I looked at the whole, and then I looked at his hands. … He’s got these like claws, and I got it. You are a great athlete. I didn’t know that, because he doesn’t talk about that. Congratulations! Now they finally know.”