Former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his US Senate seat in 2024 to Republican Bernie Moreno amid more than $40 million in spending backed by the crypto industry, has launched an election bid for 2026.
In a Saturday notice, Brown said he will run for Republican Senator Jon Husted’s seat in the 2026 US midterm elections — Moreno, who defeated Brown in 2024, won’t be up for reelection until 2030.
The former senator, who was one of the more outspoken voices on crypto in the previous session of Congress, lost to Moreno with more than 46% of the vote after a digital asset-backed political action committee (PAC) spent more than $40 million in media buys.
“I never planned to run for office again,” Brown wrote in a Saturday X post. “But I see what’s happening in Washington, and I can’t stand on the sidelines. It’s a government for the rich and powerful at the expense of everyday workers. I’m fighting to change that.”
While serving in Congress as one of two senators from Ohio from 2007 to 2025, Brown was the chair of the Senate Banking Committee for four years and one of the more outspoken voices calling for comprehensive crypto legislation “in the wake of FTX’s implosion” in 2022.
Though many experts have speculated that Republicans will maintain majority control of the Senate after 2026, Brown’s potential return to the chamber could suggest that Ohio voters are dissatisfied with their current representation.
What happened during the 2024 election in Ohio?
Defend American Jobs, a PAC affiliated with Fairshake, a committee largely backed with contributions from cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple Labs, spent more than $40 million on media buys to support Moreno. Altogether, the Ohio Senate race was one of the most expensive in the state’s history, with reports suggesting that entities had spent more than $480 million on both sides.
Fairshake, whose affiliates Defend American Jobs largely supported Republican candidates and Protect Progress Democratic ones, spent a reported $131 million to support and oppose candidates in the 2024 congressional elections. The result was that about 270 lawmakers who were considered to be “pro-crypto” by the Coinbase-affiliated advocacy organization Stand With Crypto won election or reelection.
In July, Fairshake reported holding about $141 million in assets to be used to influence the 2026 midterm elections. The PAC and its two affiliates spent more than $2 million to support candidates in special congressional elections in 2025 for three House seats in Virginia and Florida.
“Last year, voters sent a clear message that the Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren agenda were deeply out of touch with Ohio values,” Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto told Cointelegraph. ”We will continue to support pro-crypto candidates and oppose anti crypto candidates, in Ohio and nationwide.”
Will the former senator change any of his policy positions after his 2024 loss?
In Brown’s absence, under a Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate and backing from US President Donald Trump, Congress moved forward with the passage of the GENIUS Act to regulate payment stablecoins in 2025.
Trump signed the bill into law in July, and the House sent bills for consideration on crypto market structure and central bank digital currencies to the Senate, which will be in recess until September.
Related: US Senate Republicans release draft bill for crypto market structure
In one of his last messages to the Senate Banking Committee in December before leaving office, Brown warned that Trump was “opening up our government to the highest corporate bidder” and encouraged the body to be prepared to address challenges on AI and crypto.
His initial campaign message, released on Monday, focused on “standing up for workers,” concerns over healthcare costs and the current direction of the government under the Trump administration.
“Cryptocurrency is a part of America’s economy, and becoming more commonplace in Ohio and throughout the country,” Brown told Cointelegraph. “Just like what guides all my work, my goal is to make sure that as more people use cryptocurrency, it expands opportunity and lifts up Ohioans and they are not put at risk.”
A Bowling Green State University Democracy and Public Policy Research Network poll released in February gave Husted a six-point lead in a hypothetical race against Brown, who had not announced his Senate run at the time.
Husted, appointed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to fill then-Senator JD Vance’s seat following his resignation after being elected US vice president, will be allowed to serve until a special election in November 2026. Of the Senate’s 100 seats, 35 will be up for grabs in the midterms.
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