And The Winner Is

Sherrod Brown won the Ohio Senate race on Nov. 3, defeating Republican incumbent Jon Husted. ​

The Ohio Secretary of State reported Brown led Husted by 223,294 votes, namely 2,301,042 to 2,077,748 as of Nov. 4. Those figures remain unofficial. Certified results are expected approximately three weeks after the election.

Money and Outside Spending

Brown raised $68,409,199.85 in total receipts against Husted's $19,894,785.94, a gap of $48,514,413.91. Cash on hand told a different story: Brown reported $4,452,803.32 as of Oct. 14, while Husted reported $4,239,096.57 as of Oct. 22, a much narrower margin despite the wide receipts gap.

Brown raised more than three times as much as Husted overall, and outside spending in the race totaled more than $422 million when pending independent expenditure notices are included, according to the race record as of Nov. 4.

Outside spending broke down by side as follows, per the race record:

  • Republican-aligned groups spent $5,108,041.17 supporting Husted and $1,209,902.96 opposing Brown, for a combined Republican-side total of $6,317,944.13 in reported independent expenditures.
  • Democratic-aligned groups spent $293,065.81 supporting Brown and $4,299,598.77 opposing Husted, for a combined Democratic-side total of $4,592,664.58 in reported independent expenditures.
  • When pending notice totals are included, the picture reverses: Brown's side carried $216,340,781.16 in total-with-pending spending, compared with $202,632,109.16 for Husted's side.

The top outside spender by reported-plus-pending totals was SLF PAC, a Republican-aligned super PAC, followed by WINSENATE and Defend American Jobs. Americans for Prosperity Action, Inc. (AFP Action) dba CVA Action and dba Libre Action was the largest hybrid PAC spender in the race, with activity on both sides.

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Incumbent's record

Husted took office on Jan. 21, 2025, serving approximately 22 months before the Nov. 3 special election. His committee assignments include the Special Committee on Aging, the Appropriations Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW); the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP); and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, with subcommittee assignments on several of these panels.

In the 119th Congress, Husted sponsored bills included:

  • S. 5638, the Protecting American Workers Through H-1B Modernization Act
  • S. 5523, the Measuring Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking Act
  • S. 5413, the Red Light Act
  • S. 5363, the New Source Review Permitting Improvement Act
  • S. 5154, the CHAT Act 2.0
  • S. 4634, the CONNECT Act

The Race

The race drew sustained ad warfare on four fronts, each claim attributed to its originating source.

Husted's "Football" ad blamed Brown for rising grocery and electric bills and accused him of voting for taxpayer benefits for undocumented immigrants; WKRC/Local 12 reported on Sept. 23 that the ad's claims needed qualification, including that Brown did not explicitly vote to provide undocumented immigrants those benefits, according to WKRC/Local 12 reporter James Pilcher.

Brown's campaign accused Husted of voting "to kick 490,000 Ohioans off their healthcare," a characterization PolitiFact examined in an Oct. 9 fact-check by Samantha Putterman; that figure is Brown's ad's characterization of the effects of Husted's vote, not an established finding.

A separate Brown ad accused Husted of leading the push to bring data centers to Ohio and providing billions in tax incentives; PolitiFact assessed that claim in a Sept. 23 fact-check, also by Putterman; the allegation about Husted's role and the incentives is the ad's claim.

According to the Associated Press's Sept. 23 report by Julie Carr Smyth and Alexandra Olson, Brown's campaign ran ads tying Husted to donations from Les Wexner, and Husted's campaign responded with ads criticizing Brown for accepting Wexner donations, with both sides' ads framing the candidates' donation histories in relation to Jeffrey Epstein.

Pre-election indicators

Cook Political Report rated the race a Toss-up as of Nov. 2; Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the race from Toss-up to Lean Democratic on Nov. 2, according to its 2026 rating changes page.

On Election Day, Nov. 3, Oddschecker reported prediction-market prices on both Polymarket and Kalshi at 71 cents for Brown (implied 71 percent probability) and 29 cents for Husted.

The Legis1 polling average as of Nov. 1 showed Brown at 48.5 percent and Husted at 45.9 percent, a margin of 2.6 points, covering 124 polls with a latest poll date of Nov. 1; RealClearPolling's final average, covering polls dated Oct. 15 through Nov. 1 and published Nov. 2, showed Brown at 48.5 percent and Husted at 45.7 percent, a margin of 2.8 points.

What's Next

The Ohio Secretary of State's office says certified results are expected approximately three weeks after the election.

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