Ohio Senate Race Drives GOP Spending Surge Ahead of Election

Republicans are increasing their campaign spending and mobilizing canvassers across Ohio as incumbent Sen. Jon Husted faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown in a closely contested 2026 US Senate race that could help determine control of the chamber. With less than four weeks until Election Day, advertising commitments have reached hundreds of millions of dollars, according to AdImpact data cited by the Statehouse News Bureau.

By the end of September, the candidates and outside political committees had spent $250 million on advertising across Ohio. Another $140 million had been reserved for the final 34 days of the campaign, bringing total spending and commitments to $390 million, according to AdImpact. The data showed Republicans generally outspending Democrats.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were also scheduled to have visited Ohio three times combined by Monday as Republicans sought to strengthen Husted's position. More than 120,000 Ohio voters had already cast ballots as of Friday, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

Husted expressed confidence in his campaign during remarks Thursday, pointing to what he described as a shift in voter enthusiasm after traveling across the state.

"Honestly, we have been traveling the state, and you can just feel the energy change over the last month," Husted said.

Earlier Thursday, Husted attended the first of three scheduled campaign events in southern Delaware County, where he greeted canvassers preparing to contact voters in support of his candidacy.

Among the volunteers was Donovan O’Neil, a senior adviser for Americans for Prosperity Action, a political organization funded by a national network of conservative donors. O’Neil said the organization and its affiliates had knocked on more than 700,000 doors for Husted, including conversations intended to address voters' concerns about the country's direction.

O’Neil described the campaign's message as an argument against returning Democrats to power, linking current concerns to the previous administration.

"We didn’t get into this problem overnight, we’re not going to get out of it overnight," O’Neil said while canvassing a neighborhood in Powell. "If we didn’t like where we were two years ago, why bring the guy back who was there?"

Brown, meanwhile, has campaigned across Ohio, holding near-daily meet-and-greet events during the week. His schedule included stops in northeastern Ohio and Zanesville after he voted early at the Franklin County Board of Elections.

The Democratic challenger also criticized Husted's political record and argued that visits by Trump and Vance would not necessarily help the incumbent. Brown made the remarks Tuesday in response to questions from the Statehouse News Bureau about the president's and vice president's appearances in Ohio.

"It’s not going to work because Husted’s been on the wrong side," Brown said. "He was a special interest guy in Columbus, looking out for FirstEnergy, looking out for the drug companies. Now, he’s a special interest guy in Washington, where he’s looking out for the data centers, looking out for Wall Street."

The contest will decide the remaining two years of the Senate term previously held by JD Vance, who left the chamber after becoming vice president. Husted is seeking election after his appointment to the Senate in 2025, while Brown is pursuing a return to the chamber after losing reelection in 2024.