Senate seat in Ohio between Republican incumbent Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown is shaping up to be one of the closest contests of the midterm elections, with a small pool of third-party voters potentially determining the winner. Several key Senate races are unfolding this year that will determine control of Congress. Republicans seek to defend their House and Senate majorities and Democrats look to capitalize on competitive races that could flip control of both chambers of Congress in their favor.
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate and a net gain of three seats to win the House. Ohio has emerged as an opportunity for Democrats to flip a Republican-held seat, as polls continue to indicate a close race in the Buckeye state, despite its Republican lean in recent years. While President Donald Trump won Ohio in all three of his bids, including in 2024 by 11 percentage points, his declining approval rating has given Democrats a more favorable opportunity to flip the seat on Election Day, November 3.
However, those hopes could be complicated by third-party voters. Ohio's Senate ballot includes two non-major-party candidates: Libertarian William B. Redpath and independent Gregory Levy, who is affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Newsweek reached out to Husted and Brown on Thursday for comment. A new super PAC is pouring resources into the race in an effort to boost support for Redpath. The group, Buckeye Freedom PAC, has endorsed Redpath while running ads critical of Husted.
The group, which formed this month, has an ad posted to its website urging people to vote for Redpath, "the real conservative." "Both parties suck, vote for the real conservative," the ad said. Buckeye Freedom PAC formed as recent polls have shown tight results between Husted and Brown within the margin of error, raising the possibility that even a small share of votes for a third-party candidate could influence the outcome. Husted and Brown could be hurt by the third-party candidates on the ballot, University of Akron political science professor David Cohen told Newsweek on Thursday.
Libertarians tend to hurt Republicans in a general election, while third-party candidates associated with socialism tend to hurt Democrats. "This is an attempt to boost the libertarian candidate, William Redpath, which is a pretty transparent effort to hurt Jon Husted, the Republican candidate," Cohen said. "It’s similar to what a different super PAC has been attempting to do this month by boosting the candidacy of Greg Levy, the socialist candidate in the Senate race, which is designed to hurt Democrat Sherrod Brown." However, Husted could be more susceptible to losing votes than Brown, Bowling Green State University professor of political science Robert Alexander told Newsweek, as enthusiasm among Democrats is currently higher than that of Republicans in the state.
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