During an acceptance speech in Cleveland, Moreno pledged to serve all Ohioans and to work to win over those who voted against him.
“We talked about wanting a red wave. I think what we have tonight is a red, white and blue wave,” he said. “Because what we need in the United States of America is leaders in Washington, D.C., that actually put the interests of American citizens above all else. We’re tired of being treated like second-class citizens in our own country. We’re tired of leaders that think we’re garbage and we’re tired of being treated like garbage.”
Ohio’s race attracted enormous attention and spending on advertising and is the most expensive U.S. Senate race on record, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking firm. Spending by the Ohio U.S. Senate candidates, their allies and outside groups totals $427 million, according to OpenSecrets, a research group that tracks money in politics. The previous most expensive U.S. Senate race was Georgia’s in 2020, when spending totaled $412 million, according to AdImpact.
Brown, 71, one of Ohio’s longest serving and best known politicians, had sought to appeal to Trump crossover voters by emphasizing his work with presidents of both parties and to woo independents and Democrats by promoting his efforts to boost middle class workers.
He told supporters Tuesday night that his beliefs in the dignity of work and the power of people over corporate special interests will never change.
“This is a disappointment, but it is not a failure,” Brown said. “It will never be wrong to fight for organized labor, it will never be wrong to fight for the freedom of women to make their health care decisions, it surely will never be wrong to fight for civil rights and human rights. Tonight I am sad, but I am never giving up and neither is Connie.”
His wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Connie Schultz, affirmed, “No way.”
Brown and his allies pounced on cellphone video that emerged late in the campaign showing Moreno criticizing suburban women who base their votes on abortion rights to paint the Republican as out of step with the 57% of Ohioans who supported a 2023 amendment that enshrined access to abortion into the state’s constitution.
But abortion, the issue Democrats had banked on to help them win Tuesday, ultimately did not appear to be the determining factor. Republicans’ hopes for victory hinged on the one-time bellwether state’s hard shift to the right in recent elections and a strong financial advantage.
Four in 10 Ohio voters said the economy and jobs is the top issue facing the country, according to the 110,000 voters surveyed for AP VoteCast, which included more than 3,700 voters in Ohio. About 2 in 10 Ohio voters said immigration is the most pressing issue, while only about 1 in 10 named abortion.
Still, the abortion-rights group Reproductive Freedom for All thanked Brown for taking up the cause, both during the campaign and in the Senate.
“While we had hoped for another outcome, we’re proud to have mobilized by his side in this race,” President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said in a statement. “We know that Bernie Moreno is an urgent threat to abortion rights and access — and we won’t back down from holding him accountable for it.”
As Moreno and his Republican allies consistently outspent Democrats during the race, they significantly chipped away at Brown’s favorability ratings among Ohio voters, erasing an advantage that Brown had enjoyed in the polls throughout most of the campaign and depriving him of a fourth term.
Brown was the only Democrat to hold a nonjudicial statewide office in Ohio. Also Tuesday, all three Democrats running for the Ohio Supreme Court — an arena where the party had experienced rare statewide successes in recent elections — lost their races. The court’s new majority will be 6-1 in Republicans’ favor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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