GOP eager to take on Sherrod Brown for Ohio Senate seat

Republicans are already setting their sights on incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) seat ahead of 2024, pointing to signs that the Buckeye State is trending redder every

election cycle.  On Tuesday, state Sen. Matt Dolan (R-Ohio) launched his second bid for Senate, after his failed one in 2022, and became the first Republican to enter

Ohio’s 2024 Senate primary field. Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has already started running ads in Ohio, targeting Brown and urging him to retire. 

Republicans have won Ohio in the last two presidential races and maintained their hold on former Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-Ohio) seat after he retired last year. But Brown is

considered a political institution in the state, making him an unusually formidable candidate to beat in an increasingly red state.  “The way the state has certainly

trended over the last six, seven, eight years now, this is probably the best opportunity to beat him,” said Robert Blizzard, a GOP pollster with experience in Ohio. “This is going

to be a different political environment for Sherrod Brown than what he has had to face in previous campaigns.”  Still, whoever wins the primary will likely face a

contentious battle against Brown, who has distinguished himself in Ohio as his party’s last statewide elected leader. “Only a fool would underestimate Sherrod Brown,”

said one Ohio-based Republican strategist. “There’s a reason why he’s the last one standing among statewide elected Democrats. For years he’s had the ability to connect to Ohio

voters.”