Republicans ousted three-term Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in Ohio on Tuesday night, likely cementing their control of the Senate for the first time in almost four years.
Well over $400 million were dedicated to the Ohio race, the most for any Senate seat in U.S. history. His race alone had the power to tip the balance of power in Washington, where Democrats currently hold a one-seat Senate majority.
Brown had a reasonable shot of keeping Ohio in Democratic hands. As the last remaining statewide Democrat, he was among a handful of incumbents whose race was rated a “toss-up.”
But he failed to get enough GOP votes from businessman Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee who has aligned himself closely with former President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Moreno held a 5-point lead over Brown, 51% to 46%, when multiple outlets called the race shortly after 11 p.m. ET.
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Brown managed to survive three other statewide runs in Ohio despite his unabashed progressivism. As the state drifted right, he won reelection in 2012 and 2018 by 5 and 7 points, respectively.
Similar to prior races, Brown emphasized the “dignity of work” and a populist agenda that treated global trade with skepticism. But his message was not enough to overcome the coattails Trump gave to Moreno and other downballot Republicans.
Trump held a 12-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris with 90% of ballots counted.
Brown reportedly told donors in the lead-up to Election Day that he could defy the political odds if Harris kept Trump’s margins to 8 points. The strategy rested on his ability to siphon voters who were not loyal to Moreno as they were to Trump.
Brown’s goal was more plausible than some other vulnerable Democrats whose success depended on ticket-splitting. He has traditionally performed well in the Mahoning Valley and other blue-collar regions that have gravitated to Trump.
However, Brown’s reputation in the state was not enough to carry him through another cycle. After representing Ohio in Congress for three decades, first as a House lawmaker and then in the Senate, his term will end in January.
Moreno, a one-time luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, will likely join a Republican majority when he is sworn in next year.
Moreno had to endure attacks centered on wage theft lawsuits from his car dealership years. Brown allies also seized on Moreno’s off-the-cuff remark that women over the age of 50 don’t need to worry about abortion access.
The latter attack reflected a Democratic bet that abortion access remains a motivating matter two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Meanwhile, Republicans federalized the race with the economy and immigration. A third concern, transgender politics, also featured heavily in advertising. In Ohio, GOP super PACs spent so heavily on the idea that Democrats would let biological males play in female sports that Brown released his own commercial calling the accusation false.
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Early in the general election, Brown held a consistent lead in polling against Moreno. Similar to other incumbent Democrats, he outpolled President Joe Biden and then Harris at the top of the ticket.
But that lead evaporated in the final weeks of the race as each side committed hundreds of millions in a post-Labor Day advertising blitz. By Election Day, the race was within the margin of error.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
