Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) plans to run for a fourth term in 2024 in what could be an uphill battle in a state becoming more reliably red.
Brown told Spectrum News that “there’s no question” a Democrat can win in Ohio.
“I’m running in 2024,” he said. “And I run to win.”
In the midterms last week, Republican J.D. Vance defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan by a comfortable 7-point margin for the seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R). The margin was closer than that of former President Trump’s victories in the state in 2016 and 2020, but Ryan fell short despite Brown campaigning alongside him.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) easily sailed to reelection by more than 20 points.
Brown said Ohio is a “hard state” and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “buried” Ryan with a lot of money toward the end of the race. He noted that the gubernatorial race wasn’t close.
Brown won his last election in 2018 by about 7 points, but he will have to run with a Republican presidential nominee at the top of the ticket in 2024, which could make the upcoming race more difficult and pull more voters to back his eventual GOP opponent if they follow straight-ticket voting.
Republicans will view the seat as a top pickup opportunity in the Senate, but Brown has been consistently popular as a senator and has successfully been elected three times before.
“People recognize that I get up every day and fight for the dignity of work. Whether you swipe a badge or punch a clock or work for tips or work for a salary,” he said.
Ohio used to be considered a bellwether for how the entire country votes, and the state voted for every winning presidential candidate from 1964 until Trump won the state but lost the election in 2020.
The state has increasingly voted Republican in the past decade, losing its status somewhat as an indicator of where the country stands.