Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Monday became the latest Republican to join the race to replace Democrat Sherrod Brown, one of the Senate’s most vulnerable members up for reelection in 2024.
Ohio is expected to have one of the most competitive Senate races this cycle as Republicans attempt to unseat Brown, who is seeking a fourth term in a state that former President Donald Trump won by eight percentage points in 2020.
Early voting is underway in Ohio on a GOP-backed ballot measure that would make it harder to amend the state constitution in advance of a possible November vote to codify abortion rights.
LaRose, a former state senator, has been Ohio’s chief elections officer since 2019, and is the first statewide official to enter the Republican primary against state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians Major League Baseball team, and Cleveland-area businessman Bernie Moreno — two wealthy opponents who mounted campaigns for Senate in 2022.
In a onetime swing state that he comfortably won, Trump may again factor in the primary. Moreno, a former owner of car dealerships, dropped out of the Senate race last year after meeting with the former president, who ended up endorsing J.D. Vance. Trump, however, encouraged Moreno to run in 2024, and Moreno already has Vance’s backing, seen as a possible sign that Trump’s seal of approval is locked up. Moreno’s son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), is a former Trump campaign and White House staffer.
Dolan, meanwhile, is running as a more traditional Republican who won’t court Trump or make his campaign all about the culture wars.
As secretary of state, LaRose has walked a tightrope with Trump, remaining aligned with the former president despite Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud in battleground states he lost. After the 2020 election, LaRose admonished both Democrats and Republicans for challenging election results without evidence. “We’ve gone down the path of constantly challenging the elections when we don’t like the results.”
But in April of 2022, LaRose seemed more open to the potential for voter fraud happening outside of Ohio: “I think it’s also fair to discuss that there were things that happened in other states that shouldn’t have happened … Would that have changed the results? I don’t know. It’s probably an unknowable thing. Could it have changed the electoral count? Who knows.”
Last year, LaRose touted the fact that he was the only secretary of state who received a Trump endorsement, and he praised Trump at a rally. “President Trump knows how important election integrity is as well,” LaRose said at a May 2022 rally for Vance.
Ohio, Montana and West Virginia — all states with Democratic senators that Trump won handily in 2020 — are top GOP targets in 2024 as Republicans aim for a Senate majority.
Brown, however, has previously overcome GOP headwinds. He was the only Ohio Democrat, other than state Supreme Court judges, to win statewide in 2018.