Former Sen. Sherrod Brown has won the Democratic nomination in Ohio\u2019s special Senate election, NBC News projects, paving the way for a nationally watched general election matchup against Republican incumbent Jon Husted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Husted, who was appointed to the seat last year, was unopposed in his primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Brown, 73, the primary victory over software consultant Ron Kincaid, a political newcomer, was the first step in a comeback effort after a re-election loss in 2024, when Republican car dealer Bernie Moreno beat him by 4 points. Moreno was boosted by Donald Trump, who had endorsed him and who was on the top of the ballot that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown was aggressively recruited to run again by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who sees Ohio as a top pickup opportunity in the Democrats\u2019 fight to regain control of the Senate. Maine, North Carolina, Alaska and Iowa are among the other states the party has hopes of flipping this fall, with Michigan and Georgia among the battlegrounds where it is playing defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted, 58, to the Senate when JD Vance left the seat after he won the vice presidency. Husted, like Brown, is a mainstay in Ohio politics, having been DeWine\u2019s lieutenant governor and, before that, Ohio\u2019s secretary of state and speaker of the state House. Trump endorsed Husted, helping spare him a primary challenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ohio race is expected to be among the most expensive in the country. Brown\u2019s campaign had $17 million in the bank as of mid-April \u2014 more than double Husted\u2019s $8.1 million, according to the Federal Election Commission. But outside money is likely to pour into the state and give Husted cover, much like it did Moreno in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both candidates debuted their first TV ads last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Husted\u2019s 30-second spot opened on a biographical note and asserted his commitment to job growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI started my life in a foster home,\u201d Husted, who has shared his adoption story publicly, says in the ad. \u201cI tell young people, where you start in life doesn\u2019t limit your future. Work hard, believe in yourself and never lose hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown does not appear in his ad, which focuses on money Husted\u2019s campaigns received over the years from associates of Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender. Husted this year contributed a total of $34,300 \u2014 a figure that encompasses donations from former Epstein business partner Leslie Wexner and his wife \u2014 to an Ohio charity that works with human trafficking victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJon Husted \u2014 who\u2019s he really working for?\u201d a narrator asks in the ad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown is the only Democrat with a sustained track record of statewide success in Ohio over the last three decades, having won three Senate terms after a stint as secretary of state in the 1980s. The only other Democrat since 1996 who has won more than one statewide election for a nonjudicial office is former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After his 2018 re-election victory, Brown contemplated running for president in 2020 by offering a blueprint for how Democrats could win back Midwest states that Trump carried. Brown decided against a White House bid but continued to advance his \u201cdignity of work\u201d message aimed at blue-collar workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n