NEW YORK, NY — April 5, 2019: Democratic presidential candidate US Senator Sherrod Brown speaks during National Action Network 2019 convention at Sheraton Times Square (Photo: Shutterstock)
Among the Democratic pick-up opportunities in 2026, Ohio's race between former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Sen. Jon Husted (R) was among the top two. According to NBC News, Brown is projected to be the winner.
Brown, a pro-union populist, attempted a return after losing his seat in 2024. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) appointed Husted, Ohio’s former lieutenant governor, to the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance.
Polling since August has shown Brown ahead, but mid-October polls showed the margin tightening.
Brown's campaign hinged specifically on the affordability crisis and the growing economic dissatisfaction among Ohioans, reaching beyond the Democratic base. His support among people who identify as neither Democratic nor Republican voters was 55 percent while Husted lingered at just 28 percent approval.
Husted fought an uphill battle after supporting data centers until public opinion turned against them. In some ways, he's backed off of the support. However, as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2025, Husted promoted the projects and defended the tax incentives used to attract more data centers to the state. PolitiFact confirmed that record in a September fact-check of Sherrod Brown’s campaign attacks. His new position was that if communities don't want them, then they should have a say whether or not they're built.
When Trump came to campaign for Husted, his declaration that “we want” data centers put one of the senator’s biggest political liabilities back at center stage.
“We want them,” Trump told the Ohio audience. “Look, there’s so much money to be made for Ohio, you can’t just turn them off. They’ll go to China.”
Trump also touted his "booming" economy, a message that fell flat on struggling families.
“Your state is booming. Every—I hate to say it—every state is booming,” Trump told the MAGA crowd. “They’re all booming.”
Trump's comment came just after nearly 1,400 workers were laid off at a truck factory in nearby Springfield.
Turnout and undecided voters were expected to determine the result. But as the race approached Nov. 3, the early voting in Ohio leaned heavily in Brown's favor.
"Ohio’s in-person early vote has more than doubled, and Virginia is also seeing nearly twice the turnout compared with the previous midterms," reported NewsNation on Oct. 19.
As the New York Times explained, comparing it to previous elections is a little more complicated.
"Ohio’s election system is decentralized, with elections governed by individual county boards of elections — while each county is required to produce a daily absentee report, this data was not standardized until 2023, leading to discrepancies among counties," it explained.