Ohio
US Midwestern state; capital Columbus; elections run by 88 county boards.
Ohio's Senate race drew $44.1m of outside spending between 24 and 30 September 2026, about $31.1m of it on the Republican side, as Jon Husted defends the seat JD Vance vacated against Sherrod Brown.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Why is so much money flowing into Ohio's Senate race?
Timeline for Ohio
Hosted the week's Senate spending surge
US Midterms 2026: Ohio Senate race draws $44.1m in a weekMentioned in: Nine Republican PACs file $164m of $259m
US Midterms 2026Mentioned in: Judge Ali voids FEMA election conditions
US Midterms 2026Background
Ohio, a Midwestern state with Columbus as its capital, holds a 2026 special Senate election between Republican Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown. Governor Mike DeWine appointed Husted on 17 January 2025 to the seat JD Vance left to become vice-president, and the 3 November winner serves the rest of Vance's term. Brown held Ohio's other Senate seat for three terms until his 2024 defeat.
The state's elections are run by 88 county boards of elections under Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Ohio also features in the fights over federal election rules. The city of Columbus was one of four local governments that won vacatur of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's election conditions on security grants on 28 September 2026.
Outside money floods Ohio's Senate race
Outside groups reported $44.1m of spending on Ohio's Senate contest between 24 and 30 September 2026, about $31.1m of it on the Republican side and $11.3m on the Democratic side. The largest filer was Defend American Jobs, which the Washington Times ties to the crypto industry's Fairshake network, with $11.46m split between backing Husted and opposing Brown.
Party money comes on top. The National Republican Senatorial Committee spent $10.03m in coordination with Husted in August. Even so, Ohio sat behind Texas that week: Texas alone took 31% of the $259.2m in the 300 largest outside-spending filings nationwide.