Who's running against Sherrod Brown for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat in 2024?
Haley BeMiller
Ohio Republicans are scrambling for the chance to take on U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024.
Brown, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, is running for his fourth term. The Ohio race is considered a tossup by political analysts, and it's expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive in the country. Brown is one of few Democrats defending a seat in a state former President Donald Trump won in 2020.
Here are the Republicans lining up for the GOP primary.
State Sen. Matt Dolan
Dolan, of Chagrin Falls, placed third in the 2022 GOP primary. He's serving his second term in the state Senate and casts himself as a pragmatist who can solve problems. His family owns the Cleveland Guardians.
Unlike his opponents, Dolan distanced himself from Trump in the 2022 primary. He says Republicans need to stop running "campaigns of grievances" on old issues, such as the 2020 election results.
Bernie Moreno
A luxury car dealer turned blockchain executive, Moreno has made a name for himself in the Cleveland area through various business ventures. He also ran for the Republican nomination in 2022 but dropped out after a private meeting with Trump.
After that campaign ended, Moreno took over as Ohio chair for a national effort to impose congressional term limits. He has since developed a close relationship with Trump, and the former president already signaled his support for Moreno's 2024 campaign.
In this race, he's presenting himself as an outsider who will stand up to long-time elected officials in Washington.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose
LaRose took the helm as secretary of state in 2019 after two terms in the Ohio Senate representing the Akron area. He's maintained a careful balance between championing Ohio's election processes and appeasing skeptics who falsely claim there was rampant fraud in the 2020 election. Trump endorsed his 2022 reelection bid for secretary of state.
More recently, LaRose has been a key advocate for an August ballot measure that would make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution.
LaRose, unlike his Republican opponents, does not have personal wealth to help fund his Senate campaign.
Who's out?
U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, was eyeing a Senate bid, but he'll instead seek another term in Ohio's 8th Congressional District. Davidson said he wants to focus on his work in the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority and can't afford to lose votes for their policy priorities.
"I am confident that Ohio’s voters are onto Sherrod Brown and will send him home," Davidson said in a May 30 letter to supporters, first reported by Cleveland.com. "I shall always wonder if it would have been me, but it won’t. Instead, I will continue to defend freedom from Ohio’s 8th District and seek re-election in 2024."
Davidson built a political team and mulled the decision for months. He was also courted by the conservative group Club for Growth, which backed former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel in 2022.
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.