Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) didn't mince words about Sherrod Brown's decision to run for the Senate again in 2026, telling Breitbart's Fight Club roundtable that Ohio's former three-term senator is back on the ballot for one simple reason: it's the only thing he knows how to do.
Moreno made the comments during an exclusive roundtable with Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow and Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, describing Brown's comeback as a familiar play by a career politician who has never held a real job outside of elected office.
"If you ask the average Ohioan, you know, 'tell me something about his personal life.' They think he was a working class guy, maybe a machinist, an auto worker, a carpenter," Moreno said. "He puts on the suit and the shtick, and he says the things that we want to hear."
Moreno's core argument is that Brown's carefully crafted blue-collar persona doesn't match his record. He pointed to Brown's positions on immigration, energy, and government spending, saying they conflict with the image Brown has sold to voters for decades.
Brown lost his Senate seat to Moreno in 2024, ending a political career that stretched back to the Ohio House in the 1970s. He's now running against Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president in 2025.
Brown's Working-Class Brand Under Fire
The race has already drawn national attention. Two polls released this week show Brown leading Husted in the special election, according to Suffolk University/USA Today and another survey reported by NBC4 in Columbus. The numbers suggest the contest will be among the most closely watched Senate races in the country.
The Christian Science Monitor reported this week that Brown is testing an old model of working-class appeal, framing his campaign around economic issues and pro-union populism rather than the socialist and anti-Israel debates roiling other parts of the Democratic Party. Supporters told the Monitor that Brown's brand of old-school liberalism could show a path forward for Democrats trying to win back culturally conservative blue-collar voters.
To critics, the Monitor noted, Brown is the ultimate career politician, already rejected by Ohio voters in a state that has moved steadily rightward during the Trump era. When Brown lost to Moreno in 2024, he was the last Democrat holding statewide office in Ohio.
Moreno's remarks add another layer to that critique. The first-term senator is arguing that Brown's appeal has always rested on an image rather than a record, and that Ohio voters are beginning to see through it.
But Brown's team has pushed back hard on Republican attacks. PolitiFact reported this week on a Senate Leadership Fund ad claiming Brown supports "forcing childhood sex change surgery" on minors — a claim PolitiFact rated as unsupported. The fact-checker found that Brown never said in a 2023 interview that he supports forcing healthcare on children, and noted that Ohio law already bans physicians from performing gender-reassignment surgery on minors under a 2024 state statute. Brown has responded with his own ad, with supporters asking why Republicans are focused on transgender issues instead of the cost of living.
Moreno also appeared to be doing his part to shape the broader midterm narrative, telling Breitbart separately that Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is the most extreme socialist in the midterms, citing what he called El-Sayed's "sheer jihadist credentials."
What's at Stake for Ohio
Ohio's Senate race matters far beyond state lines. Republicans are defending a seat that Husted holds by appointment, and a Brown victory would give Democrats a pickup in a state Trump carried twice. It would also hand Democrats a template: an old-school economic populist running in a red-trending state, avoiding the fights that have damaged the party elsewhere.
Moreno's argument is the opposite: that no amount of shtick can hide a lifetime in Washington. Whether Ohio voters buy it for a fourth time is the question that will define the race.
Brown has not yet responded publicly to Moreno's remarks. Neither the Brown campaign nor the Husted campaign returned requests for comment at the time of publication.
Our Take
Moreno is saying what a lot of Ohioans have quietly thought for years. Sherrod Brown has been on a government payroll for most of his adult life. He lost his last election. He saw the state move against him. And instead of stepping aside, he's running again — because politics is what pays the bills.
That's not a résumé. That's a habit. And Ohio voters have already shown once what they think of it.
The media will tell you Brown is a savvy populist who connects with working people. But the same media told you he'd win in 2024. Ohioans should ask themselves one question before casting a ballot this time: does Sherrod Brown want to serve them, or does he just want a job?
