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.Sen.
Jon Husted speaks at the Republican Midterm Convention.Bryan Dozier / APIn 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 ...