Democrats think former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s long history with working-class Ohioans could be enough to reverse the party’s recent failures in the state.
In fact, he may be their only hope.
“He’s a unique talent in Ohio. If Ohio is flippable, he’s the one guy that makes it competitive,” Sen. John Fetterman told NOTUS. “If it was a generic Democrat, it would be a much different situation.”
Brown, who spent nearly 20 years in the Senate before losing to Sen. Bernie Moreno in 2024, was one of Democrats’ top recruits as they seek to retake control of the upper chamber next year. As the party focuses onaffordability and the cost of living, some see Brown — who considers himself a “true populist” and often speaks about the “dignity of work” — as uniquely well-positioned to speak on labor and wages.
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Ohio voters seem primed to be motivated by economic factors in 2026. A Bowling Green State University poll from October found that nearly a third of Ohio voters said the economy or inflation was their top issue. And while Republicans control the state, independent voters account for nearly 40% of the vote, with Democrats and Republicans each holding about 30%, according to data from the Independent Voter Project.
Ohioans are “just really frustrated that no one is listening to them, and they’re tired of the game,” Nan Whaley, the former Mayor of Dayton and the 2022 Democratic nominee for governor, told NOTUS. “That’s where Sherrod just cuts differently, because he is who he is.”
Many of Brown’s long-held positions seem to be aging well among a politically independent and working-class electorate; he even shares some stances with President Donald Trump. Brown has long been a critic of free-trade agreements, opposing NAFTA and the Central America Free Trade Agreement during his time in the House. He has criticized both parties for making decisions that have negatively affected America’s industrial towns.
“I saw what corporate greed, and frankly, presence of both parties did to my hometown and towns like it all over this country,” Brown said in his final speech on the Senate floor. “Through all my years in Congress, I’ve tried to be the voice and the megaphone for those workers and those communities.”
Brown’s campaign hopes his emphasis on workers and affordability will help him defeat incumbent Sen. Jon Husted.
“People are frustrated because not only have people like Husted done nothing to lower prices, but they’re continuing to go up, and in fact, they are actively doing things that are going to raise costs,” a strategist for the Brown campaign said, requesting anonymity to discuss the matter.
Brown started the midterm’s advertising cycle last month with a digital ad campaign that focused on the prices of holiday and kitchen staples — and used the issue against Husted.
Democrats broadly plan to tie Republicans to the Trump administration’s tariffs and to ballooning health care prices as Affordable Care Act subsidies expire.
“People tell us clearly to focus on the cost of living,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois told reporters when asked about what Democrats like Brown need to do to be competitive in Ohio. “They’re struggling to pay for health care, bills for housing and utilities, the list is long. That seems to be issue No. 1, and it would be foolish to avoid it.”
Although he lost in 2024, Brown outpaced Kamala Harris by 8 percentage points. Clearly, some Trump voters supported Brown in 2024, but he was still about 200,000 votes short.
This time, members of both the Brown and Husted campaigns expect a close race, and early polling has agreed. The most recent polls from the Bowling Green State University survey found Brown with a 1-point lead over Husted, well within the poll’s margin of error.
Husted, meanwhile, has been active in courting unions and labor groups to his side and has successfully received endorsements from several groups that previously endorsed Brown.
Husted said Brown is simply too liberal for Ohio, pointing to Democratic positions on immigration, crime and transgender rights.
“Sherrod’s voting record is one of the most liberal voting records in Congress over the 32 years he was here,” Husted told NOTUS in an interview. “He represents the elites of his party and not the working-class families and values of the people of Ohio.”
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