| Republican Bernie Moreno, a car dealer handpicked by Donald Trump, unseated Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the Ohio Senate race — the most expensive non-presidential election in U.S. history. Brown, first elected in 2006, ran heavily on his support abortion rights and sought to portray Moreno as a dishonest business executive who cheated his employees. Moreno, a car salesperson born in Colombia, emerged from a nasty three-way primary in March with a depleted campaign account and struggled to match Brown's prodigious fundraising. But GOP super PACs came in to make up the gap. Ohio was a rare state where the Senate GOP campaign arm stayed neutral in the primary, even as Donald Trump endorsed Moreno, as did Sen. JD Vance. Brown survived his last election in 2018, propelled by a strong Democratic year and facing a weak GOP opponent, even as Trump had carried the state by a wider-than-expected margin in 2016. But with Trump himself on the ballot in 2024, the headwinds were too strong. Read the latest
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