Sen. Jon Husted’s first ads of his campaign to get elected to the U.S. Senate will start today.
Husted, a Republican, will spend $1 million on the ads, scheduled to start Wednesday and remain on the air for the next two weeks. They will air on TV in Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, as well as on Fox News and online streaming.
The ads come even as Husted faces no opponent in the Republican primary election that will be decided on May 5. His likely opponent in the November election is Sherrod Brown, the former longtime Democratic senator. Husted has held the job since January 2025, when Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to fill Vice President JD Vance’s unexpired term.
In a statement, Husted Campaign Manager Drew Thompson said the election will give voters a choice between Husted and Brown, who served in Congress for 32 years total – split between the House and Senate – before he was defeated in the November 2024 election.
“This November, Ohioans will have a clear choice between the past and the future. Jon Husted is getting an early start by taking his story directly to voters who are ready for a fresh, common-sense approach in Washington,” Thompson said.
Voters will see what political operatives call a “bio ad” that’s meant to give them a snippet of Husted’s life story. It depicts Husted talking about his background as an adoptee who spent the first few days of his life in foster care, and touts his work as an elected official, including in the Senate, promoting technical education programs.
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The ad campaign comes a week after Husted reported having $8.2 million in his campaign account, compared to Brown’s $16.5 million. Senate Republicans have announced a large-scale campaign to support Husted, with plans to spend $79 million boosting him, the most of any state this year.
That announced spending, plus millions more committed by outside groups, foreshadows that Ohio’s Senate race this year could be a repeat of the historically expensive 2024 election. That year, Republican and Democratic groups spent $250 million as Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno defeated Brown by three percentage points.
