Key facts
- Brown's victory came two years after he lost his Senate seat to Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, ending an 18-year tenure.
- Husted was appointed to the Senate by Republican Governor Mike DeWine in January 2025 to replace JD Vance.
- The special election determined who serves the remainder of Vance's term, through January 3, 2029.
- Democrats must score a net gain of four seats in the midterm elections to win Senate control beginning in January.
- President Donald Trump endorsed Husted and campaigned with him in the closing weeks of the campaign.
- Former President Barack Obama appeared in campaign ads for Brown.
Democrat Sherrod Brown won Ohio's special US Senate election on November 3, 2026, according to a CNN projection, ousting Republican incumbent Jon Husted and boosting his party's chances of winning a majority in the chamber.
Brown's victory marked a comeback two years after losing his Senate seat and showed that Democrats could still win statewide in Ohio, where Republicans have become dominant since Trump's political rise in 2016. His 2024 loss to Republican Senator Bernie Moreno ended Brown's 18-year tenure in the Senate.
Husted was appointed to the Senate by Republican Governor Mike DeWine in January 2025 to replace JD Vance after he became vice president. The special election was to determine who serves the remainder of Vance's term, through January 3, 2029.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. In Tuesday's nationwide midterm elections, Democrats must score a net gain of four seats to win control of the chamber beginning in January.
President Donald Trump endorsed Husted and campaigned with him in the closing weeks of the campaign. At a time when 78% of Americans blame Trump for the high cost of living, the president campaigned in Ohio to help energize Republicans' base of voters who otherwise might have sat out the election. Former President Barack Obama appeared in campaign ads for Brown.
CNN projected on November 4, 2026 that Brown would win Ohio's Senate race. With 86% of the expected vote counted, Brown led Husted by 80,087 votes, 48.5% to 46.6%, according to results updated at 11:06 PM EST on November 3, 2026. William Redpath of the Libertarian Party had 2.8% and independent Greg Levy 2.0%, with 4,112,801 votes counted in total. Brown's lead narrowed as the count progressed, falling from 21.3 points at 30% of the expected vote to 1.9 points at 86%, the results showed. Between 10:00 PM and the 11:06 PM EST update, 820,039 more votes were counted, 49.4% of them for Brown and 45.1% for Husted. Ohio voters had returned 1,728,899 early ballots as of November 3, 2026, 51,077 more than a day earlier, according to the results.