Sherrod Brown Grows His Fundraising Advantage

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown extended a fundraising advantage over Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican incumbent in Ohio, heading into one of the most closely watched Senate races this cycle.

Brown raised $12.5 million in the first quarter of the year between his personal campaign and his committee and had more than $16.5 million in cash on hand at the end of March, according to Federal Election Commission filings released Wednesday.

“Ohioans across the state are fed up with Jon Husted and ready to hold him accountable for leaving hard-working families behind,” Patrick Eisenhauer, Brown’s campaign manager, said in a statement about the fundraising haul.

Meanwhile, Husted raised $2.9 million over the same time period and ended the quarter with $8.2 million in cash on hand. Republican leadership has committed major backing for Husted — the Senate Leadership Fund last week announced plans to spend $79 million supporting the incumbent, which would be the largest single investment of the group’s $342 million commitment across eight key Senate races.

The promise of a cash infusion from Republicans comes as Democrats are increasingly optimistic about winning a Senate majority in November. In an interview with NOTUS this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted that Democrats could flip the Senate, though the possibility is still a longshot.

“I feel like we’re going to take back the Senate,” Schumer told NOTUS. “If you had to ask me last year, I would have said no.”

The Ohio race is one of several battleground states Democrats need to take back the Senate.

Ohio’s 2026 Senate election is shaping up to be a big-money fight in a state that’s drifted further right since 2016 but remains enticing for Democrats. Brown, who represented the state in the Senate until losing reelection in 2024, is banking on his ties to union and blue-collar voters — and hoping that President Donald Trump’s popularity continues to wane.

The numbers in the latest filings represent a new high-water mark for Brown’s comeback bid. He raised $7.3 million in the final three months of 2025 and had nearly $9.9 million in cash on hand heading into the new year, after raising $14.3 million total in 2025. Husted, meanwhile, raised $1.5 million in the final quarter of last year and $7.3 million over the course of 2025.

Brown’s 2024 race against Bernie Moreno was the most expensive nonpresidential race in U.S. history, according to AdImpact, with more than $500 million spent by the two campaigns and various third-party organizations throughout the cycle.