Democrat Sherrod Brown won Ohio’s Senate race Tuesday, defeating Republican Sen. Jon Husted, NBC News and CNN projected.
The intensely watched contest could help decide control of the Senate in the next Congress. Brown, who served three terms before losing his seat in 2024, mounted a comeback in a state President Donald Trump carried by 11 points that year.
Husted, a former Ohio secretary of state, lieutenant governor and college football player, was appointed to the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. Brown ran on affordability and holding Republicans accountable.
Ohio’s other marquee contest, the governor’s race between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton, shared the ballot and shaped the campaign’s final weeks. Acton defeated Ramaswamy, according to projections.
Polls showed a competitive contest in a state that had seemed out of reach for Democrats earlier in the year. The final New York Times/Siena poll had Brown leading Husted 49% to 44%. Some Republican strategists worried that backlash over Ramaswamy’s attack ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, which Husted said he “would not have run,” could hurt the entire GOP ticket.
Trump campaigned in Ohio for Ramaswamy and Husted, frequently praising Husted’s football career and the physique of his rear end at rallies across the country. He also said he would “strongly consider” locating the future Space Force Academy in Ohio if Husted kept his seat. Brown criticized Husted for not pressing Ramaswamy to pull the ad and for aligning with Trump.
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