The 2018 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 6, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was February 7, 2018; the primary election was held on May 8, 2018. Incumbent Senator Sherrod BrownâÂÂthe only remaining elected Democratic statewide officeholder in Ohio at the time of the electionâÂÂwon his bid for a third term, defeating Republican U.S. Representative Jim Renacci by a 6.84% margin in the general election, larger than the 6% margin in the election six years earlier. That was despite Republicans winning all statewide executive offices on the same ballot, and was one of ten Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state won by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Renacci conceded defeat on November 7, 2018.
With Republican Mike DeWine winning the concurrent gubernatorial election, this was the first time since 1974 that Ohio simultaneously voted for a gubernatorial nominee and a U.S. Senate nominee of opposite parties. As of , this is the last time the Democratic Party won a partisan statewide race in Ohio.
with Josh Mandel<br />
with Matt Huffman<br />
with Pat Tiberi<br />
with Mike Gibbons<br />
with Melissa Ackison<br />
with Don Eckhart<br />
with Dan Kiley<br />
with Pat Tiberi<br />
with Josh Mandel<br />
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Brown won nine of 16 congressional districts, including five that elected Republicans to the House.
The election was not particularly close, with Brown winning by 6.82%. Brown was the only Democrat who won statewide in Ohio in this election cycle. He was able to win re-election by winning back most of the Rust Belt, which swung Republican in 2016. Brown did well in Portage County, Summit County, and Trumbull County, all very heavily pro-union counties. Brown also did well in the rust belt from Lucas County, home of Toledo, all the way to Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland. Brown also trounced Renacci in Franklin County and Hamilton County, home of Columbus and Cincinnati respectively; the latter, Hamilton County, was once considered a Republican stronghold. Renacci, while performing well in most rural areas of the state, underperformed Mike DeWine, the Republican Party's nominee and eventual winner for governor.
Regardless, Renacci somewhat overperformed in comparison to most polling before the election, while Brown lost in several counties he had won in his previous Senate races. In particular, Brown lost ground in Appalachia compared to his 2012 run, losing the Appalachian counties of Jefferson, Belmont, Monroe, Ross, Pike, and Scioto counties. This was in line with the region's shift towards the Republican Party, as evident by Obama's inability to win these counties in his 2012 bid for the presidency of the United States, Strickland's inability to win these counties in his 2016 bid for United States Senate (despite having previously represented Appalachia in the United States House of Representatives), and Clinton's underperformance in Appalachia in her 2016 bid for the presidency of the United States relative to previous Democrats. Exit polls also show Brown had a very strong showing among minority and women voters, which was key to his victory. Brown was sworn in for a third term as the senior senator from Ohio on January 3, 2019.
Official campaign websites