If Ohio voters are feeling like they’re being closely watched leading up to the November 5 General Election, they’re right. The Buckeye State, according to national political reports, is squarely in the middle when it comes to the way voters are leaning—left (Democrat) or right (Republican)—in the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno. As the final months approached to when early voting was to begin in the state, Ohio was the only “toss-up” when it came to the 34 U.S. Senate elections to be decided in November, according to 270toWin.com and The Cook Political Report. The Brown-Moreno race was also listed among CNN’s “The 10 Senate Seats Most Likely to Flip in 2024.”
Also making the Ohio race appealing to onlookers is that it pits three-term Sen. Brown against Moreno, who is seeking his first public office. Among the top issues for Ohio voters entering the fall election are immigration/border security, inflation/rising prices, jobs/economy, threats to democracy, and abortion/reproductive rights.
Let’s meet the candidates in the 2024 election for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat:
Sherrod Brown: Brown, who turns 72 the week of the November election, was born and raised in Mansfield. Earning his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in Russian studies, Brown later earned master’s degrees from Ohio State University in public administration and education. His 50-year career in government service began shortly after earning his degree from Yale in 1974 when he became the youngest person at the time to be elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. He served four terms (1975-1982) before serving as Ohio Secretary of State (1983-1990). Brown’s career in U.S. Congress began in 1992, when he began his first of seven terms representing Ohio’s 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1993-2006). In 2006, he defeated incumbent Mike DeWine to begin the first of three terms in the U.S. Senate.
While serving in the U.S. Congress, Brown has been a vocal advocate of labor and labor unions as well as education. He currently chairs the Senate’s Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committees. In his most-recent election, Brown garnered 53% of the votes to defeat Jim Renacci in 2018. A victory in the 2024 election over challenger Bernie Moreno will earn Brown his fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate, making him the second-longest serving Ohio senator next to John Glenn, who served from 1975-1999. Brown resides in Cleveland with his wife of 20 years, Connie Schultz, who is a columnist and author. The couple has three daughters, a son, and eight grandchildren.
Bernie Moreno: Born in Bogota, Colombia, Moreno, 57, has lived in the U.S. since the age of 5, when his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Moreno, who became a U.S. citizen at the age of 18, earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan. Having a life-long affection for automobiles and the industry, Moreno began working for General Motors after college, and at age 26 moved to Boston to be the general manager at a dealership. He rose through the ranks to become vice president for New England’s largest automotive dealer, where he was responsible for corporate training, online marketing, and launching new acquisitions. He moved to Ohio in 2005 to take over an underperforming dealership in North Olmsted and within a year helped it earn a “Best of the Best” award from Mercedes-Benz. His successful career led Moreno to establish the Center for Sales Excellence within Cleveland State University’s College of Business in 2018. Moreno has since become involved in blockchain-based technology.
Considering himself a conservative outsider, Moreno’s first attempt at a U.S. Senate seat was in the 2022 election to succeed retiring Sen. Rob Portman. Moreno dropped out of the race in the primaries, which was eventually won by Republican J.D. Vance. In the 2024 election, Moreno, who describes himself as “a job creator, not a politician,” is running on the issues of fighting the rising cost of living, securing the border, and bringing down energy prices. Moreno resides in Westlake with his wife of 35 years, Bridget. The couple has four children and one grandchild.
Both candidates participated in a Question & Answer session with OCA.
Ohio Contractors Association: What are the top transportation priorities you believe should be addressed in Ohio over the next six years?
Sen. Sherrod Brown: “Right now, we’re seeing projects from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law get off the ground across the state. Look at the major bridges we are building: the new Brent Spence Companion Bridge and Western Hills Viaduct in Cincinnati, the new State Route 8 Bridge in Akron, and replacing the 119-year-old Market Street Bridge in Steubenville. And there are thousands of smaller projects to improve our highways, roads, and transit infrastructure in the works. These are projects that are going to make a difference in Ohioans’ lives while also making our state more economically competitive.
“As we continue implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I will continue to work with Ohio communities to make sure their projects are funded. Ohio’s contractors helped Senator Portman and I identify key needs, like bridge replacement, to target in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. I will continue working with OCA and members of both parties to advance infrastructure legislation in the Senate next year.”
Bernie Moreno: “First and foremost, my top priority is ensuring that federal funding related to transportation needs is allocated toward the real needs of our transportation system, including railway safety, bridge and road improvements, and bringing down construction costs. The inflation under the Biden Administration has caused construction costs to skyrocket, and paired with unnecessary regulations at the federal level we have seen delays in projects and fewer hard infrastructure dollars allocated toward them.”
OCA: What is the federal government’s role in planning, building, and maintaining transportation infrastructure?
Moreno: “In 2021, Sherrod Brown and Democrats took an issue that is overwhelmingly bipartisan and came up with a bill teeming with line items that are unrelated to our nation’s infrastructure challenges. The federal government should allocate funds that directly target individual states’ needs for infrastructure improvements. The federal government should partner with state and local governments to fit individual needs.”
Brown: “America’s infrastructure used to be the envy of the world. We need to make sure our infrastructure is up to date, functional, and safe so Ohioans can get to school or work or the grocery store.
“We passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to repair our roads, rebuild our bridges, and maintain the infrastructure that Ohioans depend on every day. It takes a partnership between the federal government, the State of Ohio, and our counties and local governments to tackle our transportation needs.
“As these projects get off the ground, I’ll continue fighting to make sure Ohio gets more than its fair share of investment and that Ohio workers continue to benefit from the law.”
OCA: The way the nation currently funds transportation improvements and maintenance continues to be debated. What mechanism(s) do you support for ensuring our transportation infrastructure is properly funded?
Brown: “For decades, the Highway Trust Fund has helped fund our nation’s highway infrastructure. It is imperative that we take steps to ensure that there is dedicated and stable funding for the Highway Trust Fund. There are many options for Congress to ensure stable funding for the Trust Fund, but it’s going to take bipartisan work to provide that stability. We need to get to work early in 2025 to find solutions.”
Moreno: “Republicans and Democrats agree that funding for transportation infrastructure is important for the safety of Americans. We need to ensure that funding and grants passed at the federal level are targeted toward the needs of individual states so that taxpayer money for these improvements can be used as efficiently as possible with maximum impact for our nation’s infrastructure challenges.”
OCA: Should user fees such as the motor-fuel excise tax, port and waterway fees, and airline passenger ticket fees be “firewalled” and protected exclusively for infrastructure maintenance and improvements in the mode in which they were funded?
Moreno: “Yes.”
Brown: “We have a lot of firewalls around the existing revenue sources that support our transportation trust funds, but Congress has needed to provide revenue from other sources to meet our infrastructure investment needs for many years. We are going to need to look at a range of options to ensure our nation’s infrastructure will once again lead the world.”
OCA: Since 2021, there have been more than 40,000 road-related fatalities nationally each year. In 2023, there were 1,243 deaths on Ohio’s roads. When it comes to work zone accidents, there were 4,106 that occurred in Ohio last year. What steps would you support at the federal level to improve roadway safety?
Brown: “We need to use all available strategies to prevent accidents and avert tragic fatalities on Ohio roads. Too many Ohioans have lost a loved one in a traffic accident or work zone accident, and the number of road-related fatalities nationally has not trended in the right direction.
“In the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we included investments for the Safer Streets for All program, which supports regional and local initiatives to make our streets and highways safer and prevent deaths and injuries. We need to continue that program and find new ways to improve the design of our vehicles and roads to prevent accidents. I have worked with the National Transportation Safety Board following significant accidents in Ohio, and implementing the NTSB’s safety recommendations is an important, ongoing job for Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation.”
Moreno: “Cars are becoming safer every day. We need to encourage innovation on the federal level that allows the market to continue to produce safer, more reliable transportation for Ohioans. The bulk of road safety legislation should take place at the state level.”
OCA: Do you support state and federal prevailing wage laws for public improvements such as road and bridge construction?
Moreno: “I am for any law that keeps wages up and ensures that Ohio jobs go to Ohioans. I believe that the greatest threat to wage deflation for workers is illegal labor and cash under the table.”
Brown: “Everything I do comes back to the Dignity of Work—the idea that your hard work should pay off no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do for work. Prevailing wage laws are one of the best ways we can make sure that hard work pays off for workers and that they are paid fairly for their time.”
OCA: The federal government encourages project labor agreements (PLAs) on large public improvements. What are your thoughts on the use of PLAs?
Brown: “The federal government has a role to play in making sure taxpayer dollars support quality jobs for workers. I support efforts that ensure strong wages, good job training, and safe workplaces so that workers can do their jobs safely and complete projects on time and on budget.”
Moreno: “Mandating PLAs at the federal level can prevent qualified contract workers from bidding on taxpayer-funded projects.”
OCA: What are your thoughts on environmental mitigation as it relates to the needs and costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining our nation’s transportation systems?
Moreno: “Most contractors in this state are good stewards of our environment. While there are bad actors in any industry, most of these environmental regulations should be decided at the state level.”
Brown: “While it’s important that we protect the environment as we update infrastructure, the environmental review process can take too long to complete. We need to ensure that regulations don’t increase red tape, drive up costs, or cause delays on critical projects.”
Brown and Moreno are not only vying for Ohio’s open Senate seat this November, but they are also deciding which political party will have the majority in the 119th U.S. Congress. In the current legislative session, Republicans hold 49 of the U.S. Senate seats, while Democrats fill 48 seats, and there are three independent senators. Across the nation, 34 U.S. Senate seats are being determined this year. Heading into the November 5 election, Ohio has been represented concurrently by both a Democrat and Republican U.S. Senator for the past 13 years. If Moreno wins this election, it will be the first time since 2006—when George Voinovich and current Ohio Gov. DeWine were in office—that Ohio will be represented by two Republican U.S. Senators.
What About Ohio’s Other US Senate Seat?
When much of the nation was learning about Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential running mate in mid-July, Ohioans were wondering how a Trump-Vance victory in November would impact their U.S. Senate representation in Washington, D.C. Elected to represent Ohio in November 2022, Vance was in the second year of his six-year U.S. Senate term when he accepted Trump’s offer to join the Republican ticket.
If Trump and Vance win this November, the Buckeye State can boast of having its fourth U.S. Vice President—and its first since Charles Dawes, who served under Calvin Coolidge from 1925-29. November’s election could impact both of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats, as it will not only decide the race between incumbent Sherrod Brown and Bernie Moreno, but could also mean Ohio must fill its second seat in the Senate if Trump is elected to become the 47th U.S. President and Vance becomes Vice President.
If an Ohio U.S. Senate seat needs to be filled mid-term, state law requires the governor to appoint an interim replacement until a special election can be held—in this case, November 2026. The winner of the 2026 special election would serve out the remainder of Vance’s first term, which ends in 2028.
While speculation about who Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine might appoint as an interim senator has begun, DeWine has stated he will not consider Vance’s replacement until after the election results are in.
In addition to Charles Dawes, other Ohioans who have served as U.S. Vice Presidents include Charles Fairbanks, who served with President Theodore Roosevelt from 1905-1909, and Thomas Hendricks, who served in President Grover Cleveland’s first administration (1885-89) but died after serving only nine months in office. The last Ohioan to be a candidate for vice president was John Bricker, who was nominated to run with Thomas Dewey in the 1944 election.