A major conservative super PAC is pouring millions of dollars into Ohio in a bid to keep Republican Sen.
Jon Husted in the Senate and block Democrats from reclaiming control of the chamber in 2026.
According to the Daily Caller, the Sentinel Action Fund (SAF) formally endorsed Husted, who is locked in a razor-thin special election battle with former three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. The group, along with its affiliated organization Right Vote, is committing more than $8 million to the contest to support activities to engage and mobilize voters early, underscoring how central Ohio has become to the fight for the Senate majority.
Ohio, which backed President Donald Trump by more than 11 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, has shifted firmly into right-leaning territory in recent cycles, but the current Senate race remains a statistical tie. Multiple recent surveys show Husted and Brown separated by only a sliver, with the gap consistently falling within the margin of error, meaning even a modest turnout operation could decide the outcome.
SAF President Jessica Anderson framed the contest as a choice between a conservative aligned with Trumps agenda and a Democrat she cast as far outside Ohios mainstream. There could not be a more stark contrast than radical Democrat Sherrod Brown, Anderson said in a statement to the DCNF, arguing that Ohio voters rejected Sherrod Brown in 2024 because he turned his back on Ohio and put his loyalty to [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrat Partys extreme-left policies on open borders, government fraud and handouts to illegals, and submission to the trans agenda.
Husted, 58, was appointed to the Senate by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 to fill the seat vacated when JD Vance became vice president. Because the 2026 contest is a special election, whoever wins will still have to face voters again in 2028 for a full six-year term, raising the stakes for both parties as they try to define the incumbent early.
Brown, 73, is hardly an unknown quantity in Ohio politics, having held the states other Senate seat for 18 straight years before narrowly losing his 2024 reelection bid to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno. His political career stretches back to 1974 and includes stints in the U.S. House, as Ohios Secretary of State and in the Ohio State House, giving him deep name recognition but also a long voting record conservatives are eager to attack.
Anderson argued that record reflects a politician more attuned to coastal liberal priorities than to the concerns of working-class Ohioans. Sherrod Brown represents everything that is wrong with Democrat politicians rubbing shoulders with Hollywood elites, and fighting for New York and San Francisco values. Sherrod Brown has also opposed reasonable policies like voter ID and border security, and he has tried to stand in President Trumps way to deliver working class tax cuts and move jobs back to America, her statement continued, adding, And he has stood in the way of pro-innovation policies when it comes to digital assets.
Despite his 2024 defeat, Brown remains a formidable fundraiser and a favorite of national Democrats who see Ohio as one of their few plausible pickup opportunities in a challenging map. On April 7, he announced raising a combined $12.5 million in the first quarter of 2026 and reported $16.4 million cash on hand, even as the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund revealed a day earlier that it would invest nearly $80 million to defend Husteds seat.
The Sentinel Action Funds decision to weigh in heavily on Husteds behalf reflects a broader strategy to shore up vulnerable Republicans and exploit Democratic weaknesses in states that have trended right. Husted is the third Senate candidate SAF has backed in the 2026 midterm cycle, following its earlier endorsements of Republican Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
Those three contests in Ohio, Michigan and Maine are currently the only 2026 Senate races rated as toss ups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, highlighting how narrow the battlefield has become. Michigan is widely viewed as the GOPs best chance to flip a Democratic-held seat in an otherwise difficult year, while Collins is the lone Republican senator representing a state that failed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris carried in 2024, making her a perennial target for the left.
SAFs track record in recent cycles has given it credibility among conservatives looking for results rather than rhetoric. The group backed each of the three Republicans who ousted Democratic incumbents in 2024 Moreno in Ohio, Sen. Tim Sheehy in Montana and Sen. Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania helping to reshape the Senate map and strengthen the partys populist, pro-Trump wing.
Anderson made clear that SAF sees its ground operation as central to repeating that success in 2026, particularly in Ohio where Brown is seeking a comeback. Sentinel Action Funds ground game operations mobilized Ohioans to vote Brown out of office in 2024, and we are thrilled to endorse Republican Jon Husted, who will send Sherrod Brown packing for good this November, she noted, signaling that the group intends to again focus on direct voter contact rather than relying solely on television advertising.
On its website, SAF describes itself as the only Super PAC on the Right with a year-round ground game committed to turning out absentee, early vote, and day of voters, a model that mirrors the lefts long-standing emphasis on field operations but is now being deployed in service of a conservative agenda. That approach reflects a growing recognition on the right that organizational muscle and ballot-chasing efforts are essential to counter Democratic advantages in urban centers and university towns.
Anderson also praised Husteds brief but staunchly conservative record in the Senate as evidence that he is more than just a placeholder appointment. In his first year in the Senate, Republican Senator Jon Husted has already proven he is a conservative fighter who stands up for Ohio values and President [Donald] Trumps agenda, she said, pointing to his support for the One Big Beautiful Bill Acts tax breaks and election integrity legislation as proof that he is committed to lower taxes, secure elections and a pro-growth economic agenda.
With control of the Senate likely to hinge on a handful of races, the clash between Husted and Brown is shaping up as a test of whether Ohios rightward shift is durable or whether Democrats can claw back ground by reviving an old brand of blue-collar liberalism. For conservatives, the contest offers a chance not only to defend a critical seat but to permanently retire a Democrat they view as emblematic of the partys drift toward open borders, cultural radicalism and hostility to Trump-era economic reforms.
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