Former Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown continues to outpace Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted in fundraising.
Brown, who served in the chamber for three terms, is mounting a comeback bid after losing his seat in 2024. The latest filings cover the fourth quarter of 2025. They show Brown dramatically outraising Husted and holding a substantial advantage in cash on hand.
Brown brought in more than $7.3 million in direct contributions and transfers from other committees. With a nudge from joint fundraising groups, that total swells to $8.8 million. Meanwhile, Husted raised a little more than $1.5 million between direct donations and transfers from joint committees.
Brown has almost $10 million in the bank, while Husted has just shy of $6 million.
Still, money isn’t everything. In 2024, Brown outraised his Republican challenger, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, by a nearly 4-to-1 margin. A flood of outside spending narrowed that gap, and Moreno went on to win despite Brown outperforming Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. President Donald Trump won Ohio by more than 11 points, while Moreno’s margin of victory against Brown was a little less than four points.
Raising and spending
The bulk of Brown’s contributions come from individual, small dollar donations through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue. In the final few months of 2025, Brown raised more than $2 million through the organization. Brown’s campaign touts an average donation of about $54 and notes 18,640 donors made contributions for the first time.
“While Jon Husted votes to increase costs on Ohioans to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, Sherrod is fighting to lower the price of groceries and health care and protect Ohio’s jobs and small businesses,” campaign manager Patrick Eisenhauer said in a press release. “That’s why, nearly a year before the election, almost 45,000 Ohioans have already joined the campaign.”
Brown raised a bit more than $6 million in direct contributions from individuals and organizations. He brought in roughly $3 million more with transfers from joint fundraising efforts with the Ohio Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and other groups.
While Brown is out-raising Husted, he’s spending substantially more than the incumbent, too. In the final quarter of 2025, Brown spent about $3.3 million. A third of that went to campaign advertising, and the campaign spent another million on text message and direct mail outreach.
Husted, by contrast, kept his powder dry. Overall, he spent only about half a million dollars in the final quarter of 2025. His campaign’s biggest expenses were with firms running surveys or consulting on digital strategy.
As for outside spending, there’s been very little this early in the contest. During the three months covered by the current report, there were just two expenditures, totaling about $64,000. Both paid for online advertising in support of Husted. The Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund paid for each.
Husted raised slightly more than $1.1 million in direct contributions from individuals and groups. The Capital Journal sought comment from Husted’s campaign but didn’t receive one. A significant share of that funding flowed in through the Republican fundraising platform WinRed. Husted’s campaign also got help from joint fundraising committees with other Republican U.S. Senators and the state Republican party. Those joint efforts added about $392,000 more to Husted’s bottom line.