Sherrod Brown Defeats Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio Special Election, Returning to the Senate

Democrat Sherrod Brown won Ohio's special U.S. Senate election on Tuesday, defeating Republican Sen. Jon Husted according to media projections and returning to the chamber two years after losing his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno. With about 87 percent of votes counted, Brown had 48.6 percent (2,011,198 votes) to Husted's 46.5 percent (1,921,992). Libertarian William B. Redpath took 2.8 percent and independent Greg Levy 2.0 percent. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted in January 2025 to the seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president; Husted had never run for federal office. Brown, a former three-term senator, will serve through January 2029, finishing Vance's term. President Donald Trump carried Ohio by 11.2 points in 2024. In his victory speech Brown said voters had sent a message that Ohio is not for sale, and Husted conceded and thanked his supporters. Democrats had already flipped seats in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire and Texas.

HuffPost, on the left, leads with the pickup as a boost to Democrats' push to retake the Senate. It cites rising gas prices and Trump's falling approval as headwinds for Husted and highlights Brown's attacks on Husted's votes for Trump's budget bill, which cut Medicaid, and against releasing the Epstein files and ending the Iran war. It also mocks the Republican closing message, in which Trump praised Husted's physique. The Daily Signal and Breitbart, on the right, frame it as a comeback and an unseating. The Daily Signal notes that Brown and Moreno will now serve together. Breitbart supplies the vote counts, third-party totals and Brown's 52-year career, plus Trump's Youngstown criticism of Brown's $750,000 earmark and Moreno's challenge to his working-class image. Both sides agree on the result and the background. Newsweek and Reuters report it in a more straightforward style, with Newsweek adding the speeches and the other flipped states.