Wall Street critic Sherrod Brown heads back to Senate

• Key insight: Former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s race to unseat incumbent Sen. Jon Husted was one of the most competitive in the country. 
• What’s at stake: As Senate Banking Committee chairman, Brown focused on bank and regulator oversight, although he passed few bills during his time leading the panel. 

WASHINGTON — Sherrod Brown, the former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is heading back to the upper chamber after the Associated Press called the race in his favor Tuesday night. 

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Crypto firms spent heavily to defeat Brown against Jon Husted, the current sitting senator who was appointed after Vice President J.D. Vance left the seat to enter the administration. 

Brown’s victory comes on the heels of a stunning night of victories for Democrats, particularly those who’ve taken stands against artificial intelligence, data centers and even crypto and tech spending in elections. Brown’s victory will likely be seen as a repudiation against crypto and tech spending in elections. 

“They know I’m going to take them on,” Brown said at a recent campaign event, speaking of crypto, artificial intelligence and data center companies. 

As chair of the banking panel, Brown struck a critical tone toward the crypto industry, as well as the banking industry, although he has this campaign that he’s open to reasonable rules of the road. He’s known as a progressive on financial issues, and a consumer protection hawk, although the committee accomplished very little legislation during his previous tenure. 

Brown lost to Sen. Bernie Moreno in 2024, in part due to spending from the crypto industry, which worried that Brown would block stablecoin and market structure legislation that the industry desired. 

As he returns to the Senate, Brown’s future on the Senate Banking Committee is unclear. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., isn’t likely to relinquish the top spot on the committee, and Brown — who has also served on the Senate Finance and Agriculture committees — could prefer a top spot on one of those panels when he returns.