Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appointed Jon Husted to the U.S. Senate on January 17, 2025. Husted replaced Vice President J.D. Vance in the U.S. Senate.
Husted is a Republican and one of four candidates in the U.S. Senate special election in Ohio on November 3, 2026. The other candidates are Democrat Sherrod Brown, Libertarian Bill Redpath, and independent Gregory Levy. The winner of the special election will complete the remaining two years of the term Vance was elected to in 2022. As of June 2026, Husted and Brown led in media attention, campaign fundraising, and endorsements.
Before his 2025 Senate appointment, Husted served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, including a period as its speaker from 2005 to 2009. He then served as a state senator in Ohio from 2009 to 2011, as secretary of state of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, and as lieutenant governor of Ohio from 2019 to 2025. Husted was born into foster care and was later adopted.
Sherrod Brown served as a U.S. Senator from Ohio from 2007 to 2025. Bernie Moreno defeated Brown in the 2024 U.S. Senate election, with Moreno receiving 50.1 percent of the vote compared to Brown's 46.5 percent. Brown's seat was one of five U.S. Senate seats that changed party control in the 2024 general elections.
Political analyst Jessica Taylor stated, "Brown functions more as the incumbent in this race, while the appointed Husted is a comparative newcomer. Even though Husted has won statewide in his own right as secretary of state, both of his wins were in the very favorable GOP years of 2010 and 2014, so this will be a very different midterm cycle for a candidate who still isn't as well-known statewide as a typical incumbent." Brown served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1975 to 1982, as secretary of state of Ohio from 1982 to 1990, and as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1993 to 2007.
The outcome of the Ohio U.S. Senate special election will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. Senate in the 120th Congress. Republicans hold a 53-45 majority in the U.S. Senate heading into the 2026 elections. The Ohio election is one of two U.S. Senate special elections scheduled nationwide for November 3, 2026. The other will take place in Florida to fill the final two years of the term Marco Rubio was elected to in 2022. Thirty-three U.S. Senate seats are scheduled for regular election in 2026, with Republicans controlling 20 of those seats and Democrats controlling 13. As of June 8, 2026, 13 congressional special elections have been called for the 119th Congress, following 80 congressional special elections held from the 113th through the 118th Congress.
No independent assessment of Jon Husted’s claims was available.