Republican Bernie Moreno has defeated Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio's highly contested race for the state's Upper House seat, securing a key GOP pickup with 50.2% of the vote, compared to Brown's 46.3%, helping turn the chamber red.
Brown served for three terms and his loss underscores the trend of down-ballot races increasingly mirroring broader political shifts. However, there were many who split their ticket, as Donald Trump comfortably won the state race: He got over 55% of the votes to Harris' 43.9%.
Moreno, a Cleveland car dealership owner, heavily leveraged the endorsement of former President Donald Trump during his campaign. Ohio, which supported Trump by 8 points in both 2016 and 2020, has been moving in a more Republican direction in recent years, according to CNN. Moreno emerged as the GOP nominee earlier this year, aided by a Democratic strategy to boost him in the primary and believing he would be the weaker opponent.
To appeal to voters, Moreno sought to focus on national topics, aligning Brown with issues like immigration and inflation, often linking him to policies implemented by the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris. He also criticized Brown's stance on transgender athletes, attempting to portray the senator as too liberal for the state. In response, Brown and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ran ads clarifying that Brown agreed with GOP Governor Mike DeWine on letting local sports leagues make decisions about transgender athletes.
Despite trailing in early polls, Moreno gained momentum in the final weeks before the election as GOP voters consolidated behind him. His campaign was also buoyed by outside Republican groups, which helped boost his presence in the crucial final stretch.
Moreno's campaign faced strong attacks from Democrats over his comments regarding abortion, particularly after he suggested at a town hall that some suburban women were single-issue voters and questioned why women over 50 were concerned about the issue.
Democrats seized on these remarks, claiming that Moreno was out of touch with Ohio voters, especially after the state passed a measure enshrining abortion rights in the constitution with 57% approval in the previous year. While Brown's fundraising strength gave him a competitive edge in advertising throughout the summer, Moreno's late surge helped him secure the win, marking a major shift in Ohio's political landscape.
He also got the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who boosted spending in Moreno's campaign. Concretely, the Senate Leadership Fund and related groups spent about $161 million on TV and digital ads to bolster Moreno, according to an Axios report. This amount nearly doubled the $83 million spent on David McCormick in Pennsylvania, who got the second largest amount of spending.
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