Former Sen. Sherrod Brown raised as much money in the fourth quarter as his opponent, Sen. Jon Husted, did in the entirety of 2025 — good news for the Democrat as he faces a costly bid to unseat the incumbent.
Brown raised $7.3 million in the final three months of the year and now has nearly $9.9 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed last week. He raised $14.3 million total in 2025. Husted’s two political committees, meanwhile, raised $1.5 million in the final quarter and $7.3 million over the course of 2025.
The race is expected to be among the most competitive Senate races and to draw big-money groups from across the country as Democrats hope to win a statewide seat in Ohio for the first time since Brown’s successful 2018 bid. That includes from the crypto industry, which hasn’t hopped in just yet but spent tens of millions to defeat Brown in his last race.
Brown’s failed 2024 Senate race against Bernie Moreno was the most expensive non-presidential race in United States history, with over $500 million spent.
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Much of that spending came from cryptocurrency super PAC Fairshake, which spent over $40 million in the race to oppose Brown. “Literally, the industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate,” Sen. Tim Scott said last year of the crypto industry.
In 2024, cryptocurrency spending became the second-largest election-spending industry group since 2010, behind only nonrenewable energy. Fairshake has already raised $190 million ahead of the fall midterm elections.
Fairshake did not immediately respond to questions from NOTUS about whether it plans to back Husted in the election.
Husted led by 3 percentage points in the most recent poll from Emerson College, published in December, within the poll’s margin of error.
Husted’s campaign declined to answer questions from NOTUS regarding money raised in 2025.
Brown’s campaign touted the strong fundraising in a statement to NOTUS.
“Ohioans are more excited than ever about Sherrod, and they’re ready to hold Jon Husted accountable,” campaign manager Patrick Eisenhauer said in an email. “While Jon Husted votes to increase costs on Ohioans to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, Sherrod is fighting to lower the price of groceries and health care and protect Ohio’s jobs and small businesses. That’s why, nearly a year before the election, almost 45,000 Ohioans have already joined the campaign.”
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Signal Ohio.
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