The 2026 United States Senate special election in Ohio will be held on November 3, 2026, following the election of Senator JD Vance as vice president of the United States, as he resigned from the Senate on January 10, 2025, and assumed the vice presidency on January 20, 2025.
According to Ohio law, if a U.S. Senate seat becomes vacant, the governor appoints a replacement who serves until December 15 following the next regularly scheduled statewide election that occurs more than 180 days after the vacancy. A special election to fill the remainder of the term is then held concurrently with that regular state election, which in this case would be the one on November 3, 2026. Governor Mike DeWine chose then-Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted to replace Vance in the Senate. Primary elections will be held on May 5, 2026.
This will be the first U.S. Senate special election in Ohio since 1954.
After voting for President Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012, Ohio has trended increasingly Republican in subsequent years and is now considered a moderately to strongly red state at the federal and state level. Republicans control all statewide offices, majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, and hold both Senate seats. Republicans also have a majority of the state's House delegation with ten seats compared to five for Democrats.
Republican nominee Donald Trump won Ohio in 2016 and 2020 by 8 percentage points, and in 2024 grew his margin to 11 percentage points. Additionally, Republican JD Vance, now the vice president of the United States, defeated Democrat Tim Ryan in the 2022 U.S. Senate election by slightly over 6 points, while Republican Bernie Moreno defeated then-incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2024 U.S. Senate election by slightly over 3.5 points.
Former Libertarian National Committee chair William Redpath is running as a Libertarian. Health care consultant Jeffrey Kanter was disqualified from the Libertarian primary by Ohio Libertarians, citing Kanter submitted hundreds of invalid signatures with his candidate petition.
Disqualified
Jon Husted vs. Sherrod Brown<br />
Aggregate polls
Jon Husted vs. Tim Ryan<br />
Partisan clients<br />
Official campaign websites