COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bernie Moreno, a Republican political newcomer and Cleveland businessman, won Ohio’s hotly contested Senate race, ousting incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown by an approximately four-point margin. The Associated Press called the contest around 11:30 p.m. ET Tuesday night with about 90% of Election Day precincts reported.
The three-term Senator’s loss dealt a deafening blow to the Democratic Party, lost its majority in the upper chamber, according to the Associated Press. Republicans won West Virginia and are leading in four other competitive Senate races around the country.
Brown, adorned with his signature canary pin and joined by his wife, writer Connie Schultz, and other supporters, delivered remarks to the thinning crowd of attendees scattered across the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus shortly after Moreno was named the projected winner.
“We may be tempted to say hope was not enough. We might be tempted to second guess ourselves and question whether we worked hard enough or long enough, Brown said. “That is not our story tonight.”
“We believe that all work has dignity. We always will. We believe in the power of people over corporate special interests. We always will. We believe if you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. We always will,” he added. “This is a disappointment, but is not a failure.”
Met with applause and cheers from the audience gathered around the stage, Brown went on to describe the significance of his canary pin as a representation of his vow to fight for blue-collar workers and champion decades-worth of won progress in labor, civil and reproductive rights.
“In all those fights, progress didn’t happen on its own,” he said, adding: “Tonight, nothing changes. I don’t take off this pin, I’m not giving up on our fight for workers and I know you won’t either.”
Earlier in the evening, attendees of the Ohio Democratic Party’s election night watch party stood on the ballroom floor or in the balcony, bathed in blue lighting, watching MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki provide election night analysis on two wide screens flanking the speakers’ podium at the front of the room throughout the night.
While pop hits blasted from the event speakers, an undercurrent of tension hung in the air. Boisterous cheers erupted with each blue win announced, while a Democratic Party clip featuring GOP political newcomer Bernie Moreno was met with resounding boos. The crowd, once hundreds strong, thinned as the night progressed. After Brown’s speech, most of the remaining attendees left, some exchanging downtrodden hugs as they dispersed.
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, took to the stage at the event a few minutes before 8:30 p.m. to welcome attendees to the event, which was hosted, in part, by the campaign for Sen. Brown.
“Tonight, as Democrats, we will show America how much we value the dignity of work and tonight, Sherrod Brown will be re-elected to the United States Senate,” said Beatty, referencing Brown’s tagline.
As the crowd erupted in cheers and applause, Beatty — who won her re-election bid in Ohio’s 3rd congressional district — also extended an aspirational welcome to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her fellow congressional Ohio incumbents seeking re-election. She also thanked Ohio women and labor representatives for their support.
“If this isn’t a hell of a welcome, I don’t know what is,” she said. “I love Ohio up and down, and I love you because you stand up for us, you understand the value of work, the value of families, the value of education, and the value of not only making Americans have the opportunity to get by, but to thrive.”
As the count got underway in Ohio Tuesday evening, Trump-backed challenger Bernie Moreno boasted a multi-point lead over Brown for most of the night, per the Ohio Secretary of State.
While the Buckeye State is no longer a swing state or presidential bellwether — voters chose Trump by a wide margin in 2016 and 2020, and the AP quickly called the state for him this cycle — its contentious Senate race was seen as key to the Democrats’ fight to retain their majority in the upper chamber.
As of Tuesday afternoon, polling averages showed Moreno had taken a marginal lead in the race. Moreno led by just 0.8 points in the FiveThirtyEight average, but left a wider trail of 1.7 points and 2 points in the RealClearPolitics and Decision Desk HQ averages, respectively. However, the RacetotheWH polling average placed Brown just ahead of Moreno by 0.4 points.
In the campaigns’ final week, Trump-backed Moreno toured the state in a bright red bus joined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Fox Host Tucker Carlson and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. At stops, Moreno called for the deportation of undocumented immigrants and defended himself against lawsuits from former employees that accused him of failing to pay overtime, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Progressive Brown spent the end of his campaign courting Black voters in Columbus and visiting a union hall in Akron, amid other events throughout the state. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and former president Bill Clinton also stumped for their party’s candidate at rallies in downtown Mount Vernon and Cleveland, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ohioans fielded a final barrage of attack ads accusing Brown of being too liberal for Ohio, criticizing Moreno for his stance on abortion and occasionally spreading misinformation in what has become the nation’s most expensive congressional race.
Early voting in Ohio ended Sunday after starting Oct. 8, with approximately a third of the state’s 8.1 million registered voters casting an early ballot either in-person or by mail, according to data from the Secretary of State. Secretary of State Frank LaRose told the Ohio Statehouse News Bureau that the state could be on track to surpass its voter turnout record if Election Day turnout is high.
