Incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Bernie Moreno (R) are running in the November general election for the U.S. Senate in Ohio

Incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and

(R) are running in Ohio’s U.S. Senate election on November 5, 2024.

CNN’s Simone Pathe said, “Brown is the only Democrat to win a nonjudicial statewide race in Ohio over the past decade, so the big question for 2024 is whether he can defy expectations again in his red-trending state.” The New York Times’sJonathan Weisman said President Joe Biden’s record will also play a role in the election: “This fight will be about Mr. Moreno trying to define Mr. Brown’s policy agenda — and the Democrat removing Mr. Biden’s name from it.” Brown was one of 37 members of the U.S. Congress who publicly said that Biden should suspend his presidential campaign. Biden withdrew from the presidential race on July 21, 2024.

Brown was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after he defeated then-incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine (R) 56% to 44%. Before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, Brown represented Ohio’s 13th Congressional District from 1993 to 2007. He also served as the Ohio Secretary of State from 1983 to 1991 and represented District 61 in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1975 to 1982. Brown was also a faculty member at Ohio State University-Mansfield from 1979 to 1981.

According to The Washington Post, “[Brown] said fighting for blue-collar workers will again be a central part of his campaign.” Brown also said he will highlight his legislative accomplishments during the campaign: “My job is always to help pass legislation that people in the state care for, and come to me about, and then to help implement it. We have a lot to talk about, about accomplishments over the last two years and it’s my job to make sure people know about that.”

Moreno is a businessman with a background in auto sales. Moreno purchased a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Ohio in 2005, eventually expanding into a dealership group. Between 2016 and 2019, Moreno sold his auto dealerships and started a blockchain business, which he later sold. Moreno is currently president of Bernie Moreno Companies. Moreno previously ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022 but suspended his campaign before the Republican primary election.

Moreno said in the Senate he would “fight to shrink government, protect our freedoms, stop the Chinese communist party from taking our data and land, and always put America First.” Moreno said he has always been an outsider and would carry that over to the U.S. Senate: “Now I’m running for Senate and you guessed it, I’d be an outsider in Washington too. I’m not a career politician. I’ve never held office. I’m doing this because I firmly believe career politicians have put us in a ditch and we need outsiders to fix this country.”

The Ohio Building Trades endorsed Brown. Former President Donald Trump (R) endorsed Moreno.

Ballotpedia provides race forecasts from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. To see how each outlet rates the general election, click here.

The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. Senate in 2025. Thirty-four of 100 seats are up for election, including one special election. Of the seats up for election in 2024, Democrats hold 19, Republicans hold 11, and independents hold four. As of May 2024, eight members of the U.S. Senate had announced they were not running for re-election.