Sherrod Brown Rescues Democrats’ 2026 Senate Hopes

Of all the problems facing Democrats in Donald Trump’s second term, perhaps an underrated issue is the natural tendency of politicians to put their own interests ahead of the greater good of the party. Democrats who make a habit of bashing colleagues from a different faction are the most conspicuous culprits, and a few have even taken to trashing the party as a whole.

Then there’s former U.S. senator Sherrod Brown. After appearing on the ballot in Ohio 18 times (the first when he was 21 and successfully ran for the state legislature) and winning all but twice, he has earned a quiet retirement. And if he were inclined to run for office again in his rapidly reddening state, you’d figure after 32 years in Congress he’d prefer to run for governor. Ohio’s current governor, Republican Mike DeWine, is term-limited. The likely 2026 GOP nominee for that gig, tech tyro and Trump Bro Vivek Ramaswamy, might be a nice foil for Brown, the very prototype of a rumpled, working-class-oriented Democratic populist. There has been plenty of talk about a gubernatorial bid for Brown, one of the most popular Democrats in Ohio.

But Chuck Schumer reportedly met with Brown recently and begged him to reconsider, and now it is being widely reported that Brown has decided to attempt a Senate comeback. His opponent, former Ohio lieutenant governor Jon Husted, was just appointed to the Senate by DeWine in January when the seat’s previous occupant, J.D. Vance, became vice-president. As Politico notes, Brown did relatively well in his losing battle against Bernie Moreno in 2024:

In 2024, Moreno won by more than 200,000 votes. Still, Brown ran nearly 8 points ahead of the top of the ticket, as Trump claimed victory in the state over former Vice President Kamala Harris by more than 11 points.

It wouldn’t take that much of a midterm breeze against the party controlling the White House to make a Senate race between Brown and Husted highly competitive. And it’s hard to envision any other Ohio Democrat who would have a decent shot at picking off a Senate seat.

For Democrats nationally, Brown’s candidacy is heaven-sent. They need to flip four seats to take control of the Senate, which would be an enormous accomplishment (particularly if Republicans succeed in gerrymandering their way to continued control of the House). Breaking the GOP trifecta in 2026 would give Democrats the power to deny Trump his more egregious nominees for executive-branch positions and the judiciary.

The 2024 landscape will be very difficult for Democrats, even with Brown in the mix. But with popular former governor Roy Cooper running for an open seat in North Carolina and Maine’s Susan Collins looking potentially vulnerable (or perhaps choosing to retire), an Ohio win could mean Democrats just need to find one more target. That could be Texas, where Republicans are freaking out over the high likelihood of a vicious John Cornyn–Ken Paxton primary (and if scandal magnet Paxton wins, an uphill general-election battle). Or it could be Iowa, where Joni Ernst keeps making amateurish political mistakes and also might retire. It’s all still a long shot, to be sure, and Democrats have seats to defend in potentially tough races in Georgia and Michigan.

But finding the best available candidate in Ohio definitely makes Democratic Senate dreams more realistic. And you have to be impressed by Brown’s gluttony for punishment: If he does beat Husted, his reward is just the two years remaining in the term initially won by Vance in 2022; then presumably, he’d have to run again in a presidential year when his state is very likely to go Republican for the fourth consecutive time with a ticket probably headed by Vance. It’s a tough row to hoe, but nobody should underestimate Sherrod Brown.