Photo credit: Sherrod Brown for Senate
By BallotWire
10/15/2026
The Wire: Democrat Sherrod Brown raised more than $28.2 million in the third quarter of his Ohio Senate comeback bid against appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted, outraising him by roughly six to one heading into the final stretch.
Why it counts: Ohio is one of the few states likely to decide Senate control, and Brown, a former senator trying to win back a seat in a state that has trended sharply red, is keeping it competitive. Unlike in Georgia and North Carolina, where Republicans are pulling back, national GOP groups are spending heavily to hold Ohio.
The margin: Brown’s $28.2 million haul included $23.1 million to his campaign committee and $5.1 million to affiliated fundraising committees. Husted raised about $4.8 million for his campaign, with roughly $3.2 million more through a joint fundraising committee. Forecasters and prediction markets currently favor Brown, who has led recent polling by low single digits.
The fine print: Most of the money came from small donors. The campaign reported nearly 200,000 donors in the quarter, about 60,000 first-time contributors, an average grassroots donation of $39.63, 95% of individual donations at $100 or less, and contributions from all 88 Ohio counties.
On the record: Brown’s campaign framed the haul as a grassroots counter to “record spending from corporate special interests,” which it says is propping up Husted, tying the contrast to its affordability message on groceries and health care.
The counter: The fundraising gap is heavily offset by outside money. The Senate Leadership Fund committed roughly $79 million to Ohio, its largest single-state investment of the cycle, meaning Husted doesn't rely on his own campaign account to stay on air. Ohio has moved toward Republicans in recent cycles, and Trump carried it by double digits in 2024, giving the GOP real confidence it can hold the seat.
The backdrop: The contest is a special election for the seat once held by Vice President JD Vance, which Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted to fill in early 2025. Brown lost his own seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024 but remains one of the few Democrats to repeatedly win statewide in Ohio. His haul is part of a broader Q3 fundraising surge for Senate Democrats, who outraised Republicans across the battleground, led by Texas Democrat James Talarico’s record $64 million.
Looking ahead: With a month to go before the Nov. 3 election, the question is whether Brown’s grassroots cash and crossover appeal can overcome Ohio’s Republican lean and the GOP’s massive outside-spending advantage, in what has become one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country.