Former Sen. Sherrod Brown kicks off his bid for Vance’s old Senate seat in Ohio

Cleveland – Former senator Sherrod Brown, D -Ohio, launched a return campaign on Monday, preparing the way for a special election in 2026 which could decide the partisan control of the Senate.

Brown will challenge Senator Jon Husted, the Republican that the governor of Ohio Mike Dewine has appointed this year to fill the vacancy created by the election of JD Vance as vice-president.

“We had no intention, really, to run again,” said Brown, speaking of himself and his wife, journalist Connie Schultz, in an interview with NBC News. “We have just heard more and more people and have seen how worse it became. I spent my career, as you know, taking interest groups and taking this rigged system. And the system was faked as long as I remember, but it clearly worsened. ”

In a video accompanying its campaign launch, Brown presents three important principles for him: “Defending workers, treating everyone with dignity and respect, working as hard as possible.”

“I did not plan to run again in the elections, but when I see what’s going on, I know I can do something for Ohio,” said Brown in the video. “This is why I run for the Senate.”

Brown, 72, lost his race for a fourth term last year against the Republican Bernie Moreno of around 3.5 percentage points while President Donald Trump wore the 11 -point Ohio. The word of his decision to appear in the Senate – and not for the governor, as many Ohio Democrats hoped for it – sank last week, first reported by Cleveland.com and confirmed by NBC News.

In a press release, the Husted campaign spokesman Tyson Shepard said that Brown’s announcement “means that the Ohioans will face a clear choice in 2026”.

“For 30 years, he has imposed the problems of Washington on Ohio, pushing radical liberal policies that have left a lasting burden on the next generation,” added Shepard, referring to Brown. “Jon Husted offers the opposite approach, applying Ohio’s values and solutions to repair a broken Washington.”

The shock of next year will determine who will serve the remaining two years for the quarter won in 2022. Brown was not engaged when he was asked if he would ask for a complete six -year term in 2028 if he was beating Husted.

“I don’t know,” said Brown. “I really don’t know, legitimately.”

The head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, Dn.y., had grown pressure on Brown to choose an offer from the Senate during a race for the governor and went twice to Ohio to persuade him to take Husted. Brown and former Governor Roy Cooper de Caroline du Nord are two prized recruits in the Battle of Democrats to win back the Senate in the mid-term elections next year. The Republicans defending a majority of 53-47 in the Chamber, the Democrats should mark four seats.

After losing his re -election campaign last year, Brown and Schultz moved from Cleveland to Bexley, Ohio, the suburbs of Columbus which houses the governor’s manor. This decision, which brought Brown and Schultz closer to their grandchildren and to Schultz’s teaching position at the University of Denison, nevertheless fueled chatter that he was more leaned over a race for the governor. Meanwhile, Brown has launched the dignity of Work Institute, a non-profit organization focused on workers’ problems.

Brown said it was not only Schumer pushing him in one direction or another. He and Schultz heard people around the world, from grocery store to their local parade of July 4.

“The decision was mine and that of Connie, and it was a difficult decision because I think I could do a good job in both places,” said Brown. “But in the end, because Ohio has no one in the Senate pleading for Ohio workers, I came to this decision. I mean, it is difficult for this state, it is difficult for people. I could have gone in this case, but I think I can have more impact in the Senate.”

Brown distinguished Husted’s vote for the “Big Bill Bill” supported by Trump, a megabill that was criticized for its Medicaid cups and other federal security programs. Brown said it was specifically worried that Ohioans lose health insurance coverage in a state where a republican governor has made Medicaid expand.

“The worst was the big one, no matter how they call it – a great ugly bill, a great magnificent bill,” said Brown. “At any other level, it is the worst vote he expressed in the Senate, but it is a continuum of his race for particular interests all his career.”

Husted, 57, like Brown, has spent a large part of his life for adults in the public service. He was a speaker of Ohio in the 2000s and Secretary of State – a work that Brown has occupied in the 1980s – in the 2010s. More recently, Husted was the lieutenant of Dewine.

In a joint statement on Monday, Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Dn.y., who chairs the Senate Democrat campaign committee, encouraged Brown’s decision.

“No one is fighting stronger for Ohio than Sherrod Brown,” they said. “From the security of Ohioan retirement and social security services to the reduction of fentanyl from China and Mexico, Sherrod will always do what is good for Ohioans.”