Having served as the former US senator for 18 years, he previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983. He also held positions as Ohio secretary of state and the US representative for Ohio’s 13th congressional district till 2007. Sherrod Brown, now running for the US senate position opposite Republican Jon Husted, is already a prominent figure in Ohio .
Brown is now seeking to return to the Senate in the 2026 midterm election . For his 2026 campaign, Brown claims to work on reducing living costs for Ohioans and strengthening laws for consumers and workers. He challenged the Congress and his opponent Republican candidate Jon Husted for the Senate seat in the 2026 election. He sponsored the Leveling the Playing Field Act, which became a law in 2015.
Describing himself as a “relentless fighter”, Brown said he aims to work for the people of Ohio. In his campaign website, he also took a dig at Husted for supporting “reckless tariffs” and “causing high prices”. His campaign heavily focuses on holding health insurance companies accountable, reducing prescription drug costs, requiring data centers to pay the full cost of their utilities and banning members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks. Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Brown’s father Charles Brown worked as a physician and his mother Emily Brown was a social activist. Sherrod Brown achieved a bachelor’s degree in Russian studies from Yale University and two master’s degrees in Public Administration and Education from the Ohio State University. He also taught in Ohio State University after beginning his career. His campaign directly points to his previous work on pensions, prescription drug costs, health care and social security for Ohioans. Brown has heavily criticized President Trump’s tariff policies, claiming that they can increase costs for American consumers and hurt workers, farmers and small businesses. It gave domestic manufacturers better tools to fight unfair trade practices, foreign dumping and state backed subsidies especially from China .
In a 2023 Senate Banking Committee statement, Sherrod Brown warned that AI could increase discrimination in lending, lead to scams and affect jobs. In his 2026 campaign, he has also focused on AI data centers in Ohio.
His campaign says large data centers should pay the full cost of the electricity and other utilities they use, rather than passing those costs on to Ohio residents. Brown has publicly opposed the Iran war and even criticized President Trump for the way he has been handling the conflict. He believes that the war is heavily increasing the cost of gas, diesel and fertilizer for Ohio families and farmers. Brown has also criticized his opposition candidate Jon Husted for supporting the war, with his campaign repeatedly highlighting Husted’s votes in favor of the conflict. Brown has called for an end to the war, claiming that if Democrats regain control of Congress, ending the conflict would be one of the first things they do. He called for stronger testing of AI systems and protections for consumers and workers.
