Sherrod Brown, Ohio's highest-profile Democrat, expected to seek a return to the US Senate in 2026
Brown has not yet made a formal announcement, but people familiar with his plans who were not authorized to speak publicly about them said he plans to run. One person said an announcement could come by the end of next week. The decision was first reported by Cleveland.com.
Brown, 72, seeks the Senate seat currently held by Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, 57, a former Ohio lieutenant governor, state senator and secretary of state who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Democrats view Brown, a three-term former senator and champion of the working class, as among their most formidable candidates despite his 2024 reelection defeat to Republican Bernie Moreno.
His entry into the race would mark another major recruiting win for the party. While Democrats face a daunting Senate map in next year's midterm elections, they have been buoyed by the decisions of well known candidates to run in high-profile races. That includes in North Carolina, where former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced that he will be running for an open Senate seat, giving Democrats a proven statewide winner in a race that is expected to be one of the most competitive 2026 contests.
Republicans, meanwhile, have struggled to line up candidates in key battleground states like Georgia, where term-limited Brian Kemp passed on challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, whom Republican leaders have made their biggest target in next year's midterm elections.
In Ohio, numerous fellow Democrats had been deferring to Brown before announcing their own plans for 2026, when every statewide executive office in Ohio is up for grabs due to term limits. Besides Senate, Brown was also weighing a run for governor. He immediately becomes the front-runner for the Democratic Senate nomination.
Husted was appointed to succeed then-Sen. JD Vance after Vance won the 2024 election alongside Trump. Husted's appointment to the seat expires next year. The winner of a fall 2026 special election will serve the remainder of Vance's unexpired six-year term, which runs through 2028, and then would need to run again for a full term.
It's unclear how Brown's usual electoral advantage in name recognition might play against Husted, who spent more than 20 years as a statewide officeholder and state lawmaker. But Democratic strategists said Tuesday that a Husted-Brown race would be more centered on Ohio themes, an advantage for Brown over last year's nationally focused contest against Moreno.
Trump's endorsement has been a winning formula in Senate bids by both Moreno and Vance before him, who both scored wins as political newcomers even amid fields that included more experienced rivals.
Husted's campaign spokesman Tyson Shepherd said in a statement, 'Should Brown enter the race as (Senate Democratic Leader Chuck) Schumer's handpicked candidate he will be starting in the biggest hole of his political career. He has never faced a candidate like Jon Husted.'
Ahead of his decision, Schumer visited Ohio to meet with Brown at least twice, as first reported by Axios. Schumer's deep-pocketed Senate Majority PAC helped make Brown's race against Moreno the most expensive in U.S. history.
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The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
Progressives make inroads in key mayor's races
Progressives are making inroads in big-city mayoral races, giving the left flank a new shot in the arm as the Democratic Party faces an internal struggle over its future. Seattle community activist Katie Wilson surprised some political observers last week in finishing ahead of incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell (D) in a nonpartisan blanket primary. Though Harrell, who is more moderate, will have the opportunity to win reelection to a second term in November, Wilson is currently almost 10 points ahead of him in the primary results, as of the latest vote count. Coming in the aftermath of Zohran Mamdani's upset win in the New York City Democratic primary and as a left-wing challenger hopes to oust the current Minneapolis mayor, progressives are hoping it's a sign of the tide turning in their favor. 'Our hope is that there's a real moment for progressives, for folks who want to see change or are upset with the status quo,' said Alex Gallo-Brown, Wilson's campaign manager in an interview. The Democratic Party has spent months reevaluating its future in the aftermath of its losses last November and figuring out its direction ahead of the midterms. The party has experienced a battle for at least the past decade between its progressive and moderate wings for control of the party and the message pitched to voters. Finger-pointing followed former Vice President Harris's loss in 2024, with progressives getting blame from more moderate Democrats for contributing to a perception of the party as too far left. Coupled with some high-profile defeats for progressive candidates in key congressional and local races in 2024, the progressive wing didn't appear to be in a strong position entering this year. But progressives are much more optimistic now following results in some of the mayoral elections taking place this year in large cities. The first and biggest victory yet came with the surprise win from Mamdani, a New York State Assembly member backed by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), in the primary over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who touted progressive accomplishments while in office but ran as a moderate. Most public and even Mamdani-aligned polling didn't show him leading ahead of the primary, but he outperformed expectations to win comfortably by double digits in the final round of the city's ranked-choice tabulation. Meanwhile, another DSA-backed candidate is seeking to gain momentum in Minneapolis after winning the city party's endorsement. Minnesota state Sen. Omar Fateh (D) won the endorsement last month over Mayor Jacob Frey (D), who is seeking his third term in office. Though Frey is filing an appeal to the decision over what he argues was a flawed process, after significant technological issues, the development nonetheless underscores the proxy battle taking place in the city's election. 'This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual,' Fateh said in a post on X at the time. 'It's a mandate to build a city that works for all of us.' Most recently, Wilson took observers by surprise by finishing ahead of Harrell in the Seattle mayoral primary with about 51 percent of the vote to 41.4 percent for the incumbent mayor. The candidates will face off again in the November general election. Issues of affordability and public safety are playing key roles in the contest, as is the case for other large cities. Harrell has touted declining violent crime rates during his time as mayor and has pushed for increased hiring for the city's police force. Wilson, who previously expressed sympathy for the 'defund the police' movement but hasn't called for it during her campaign, has criticized Harrell over rising costs of living and housing affordability, while arguing that armed officers aren't needed to respond to mental health and other non-crime calls they receive. Gallo-Brown cast doubt on how much the public cares about 'labels' as opposed to who will find solutions to their problems. 'A lot of people, they kind of look at the Democratic Party or certain parts of it, and it's just business as usual,' he said. 'And so I think people like Katie, like Zohran, like other mayoral candidates around the country are showing people that another world is possible.' Harrell told The Hill in an interview that he wasn't surprised by the results given the 'angst' that voters expressed while his campaign conducted field work. He said he needs to remind voters that he's been a 'change agent' and helped turn the city around from the place it was in when he first took office, a time when the city was still coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and facing much higher levels of crime. 'You don't want to sacrifice a proven leader, just because there's impressive-sounding rhetoric that seems to excite people,' he said. 'The rhetoric will not get change done. It's people who are capable and have done the work.' Some Democrats tempered expectations for the progressive challengers and argued that Minneapolis and Seattle's races aren't as directly comparable to New York City's. Corey Day, a former executive director of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, pointed to the controversy surrounding the process that resulted in Fateh's endorsement and Frey's appeal, which could change the city party's decision. He also said he doesn't believe the endorsement will be as critical to determining the winner as it would be for some city council races. Day called Fateh's candidacy a 'significant challenge' to Frey but said he expects the incumbent to make clear their differences ahead of November. The election will be conducted by a ranked-choice process in which all candidates for the office compete on the same ballot. The race doesn't have a primary, so no results on where voters stand will be available until the election happens. Frey also doesn't have the controversies that Mamdani's chief opponent, Cuomo, had to overcome in the New York race. 'Once both of these candidates are spotlighted, and I think when they start talking about their policies and their records, it's going to be pretty clear for voters that Jacob Frey is their choice,' Day said, arguing that Frey has also established his progressive bona fides. Ashik Siddique, a DSA co-chair, said voters are excited from candidates who show they're willing to fight for working class voters, and these types of candidates can win even outside these cities if they hone their message and have discipline. 'People are very motivated to see people like Zohran and Omar and others all over the country really standing up for clear economic demands that will address the ways people feel their day to day lives are getting worse, but also being able to confront the [Trump] administration when it's scapegoating people,' he said. DSA enthusiasm was on full display at its national convention this month following Mamdani's win. DSA isn't involved in the Seattle mayor's race, and Wilson hasn't run as a democratic socialist, but the race is still another example of progressives feeling bullish. Washington state Democratic strategist Ron Dotzauer said he expects the general election turnout to be much higher than that of the primary was, changing the electorate. He said the low turnout favored Wilson's constituency and other more liberal candidates. Dotzauer said Wilson's constituency is 'ironclad,' so the onus will be on Harrell to capitalize on the increased voter turnout. 2024 Election Coverage 'There's a scenario for each of them to win, and I think it's going to be very, very close,' he said. Harrell also argued that he has shown his progressive values in fighting to raise the minimum wage, setting an 'aggressive' climate policy and raising taxes on the largest businesses. He also pointed to a key endorsement he received from Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. 'When people start calling people names or labeling them, they're not really looking at the hard work that's been achieved,' he said. 'And again, I'll that story during the general, but I think that should resonate in the minds of most voters.'
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump's China deal on AI chips prompts significant security concerns
President Trump's reversal on previously blocked chip sales to China has sparked cries that the White House is selling out America's security concerns in a bid to raise revenue. Trump on Monday agreed to allow tech giants Nvidia and AMD to secure export licenses to sell their advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips in China in exchange for a 15 percent cut of the profits. The White House said Tuesday that more such deals could be on the table. The unusual deal doesn't just raise legal questions. Experts say the U.S. should be wary of turning over American-made technology that could boost its adversary's AI capabilities, at a time when the two countries are fiercely competing for dominance. The security concerns appear to be a two-way street. China urged tech companies there to avoid any purchase of the chip, citing security issues. The move once again has Trump at odds with Congress's China hawks, who argue the administration is shortchanging America's national security interests to make a buck. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, in a statement said the most troubling part of the deal was a contradiction at the heart of the policy. 'The administration cannot simultaneously treat semiconductor exports as both a national security threat and a revenue opportunity,' he said. 'By putting a price on our security concerns, we signal to China and our allies that American national security principles are negotiable for the right fee.' The same panel's GOP chair, Rep. John Moolenaar (Mich.), said there are 'questions about the legal basis' for such a deal. 'Export controls are a frontline defense in protecting our national security, and we should not set a precedent that incentivizes the Government to grant licenses to sell China technology that will enhance its AI capabilities,' he said in a statement. Greenlighting the sales marks a reversal for the Trump administration, which in April initially imposed restrictions on Nvidia's H20 chip and AMD's MI308 chip, effectively blocking shipments to China. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has argued China is only receiving Nvidia's 'fourth best' chip, but this has done little to assuage concerns. The administration has increasingly taken up the mantle, supported by the semiconductor industry, that the U.S. should focus on boosting the adoption of U.S. technology abroad rather than imposing more stringent export restrictions. The reasoning follows that the best way to win the AI race is to keep China dependent on American-made chips and prevent Huawei from gaining ground both inside and outside of China. Others contend this will simply boost Beijing's capabilities in a way that would be impossible without the U.S. technology. 'We've got to realize we're in an intellectual war, a technology war with China, and we're in an AI competition. Having Nvidia providing this technology to China is a mistake,' Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said during an appearance on 'The Hill' on NewsNation. 'China getting our chips is not a good deal.' National security experts say the risks are manifold. Not only do the sales boost China in what many see as a technological cold war, it also opens the door to the risk the communist government could use chips for military technology or other uses that directly threaten the U.S. Liza Tobin, who served as China director at the National Security Council under the first Trump and Biden administrations, said chip producers only have so much capacity, so shipping them to China shortchanges others. 'It's putting a priority on China's AI development at the expense of American or other countries' AI development,' she told The Hill. She also expressed concern over chips being used for 'malign purposes that potentially harm and kill American men and women in uniform.' 'These chips themselves are inherently dual use. It's not like these are just made for the military or have some limit on them to only be allowed for cat food apps. That's just not how it works.' Nvidia on Tuesday argued the sales will help the U.S. become a technology leader with little risk to either party. 'As both governments recognize, the H20 is not a military product or for government infrastructure,' the company said in a statement. 'China has ample supply of domestic chips to meet its needs. It won't and never has relied on American chips for government operations, just like the U.S. government would not rely on chips from China. Banning the sale of H20 in China would only harm U.S. economic and technology leadership with zero national security benefit.' Peter Harrell, a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the export control licenses Trump is now negotiating with companies were expressly designed to weigh those types of national security risks. 'It's a very troubling precedent because historically when we've been looking at export control licenses, it's been strictly speaking a national security review,' Harrell said. 'Does the export of this widget threaten U.S. national security? Whereas now, there's also going to be this factor of, 'Well maybe it does threaten U.S. national security … but hey, we got some money from it.'' 'I think it would be quite negative for us if we get in the business of 'We're happy to arm our adversaries as long as they pay us a bit of money to do so.' I hope that's not where we are. I do worry that this could become a broader precedent.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the administration would consider other similar arrangements in spite of legal concerns. 'Right now, it stands with these two companies. Perhaps it could expand in the future to other companies,' Leavitt said. 'I think it's a creative idea and solution. The legality of it, the mechanics of it is still being ironed out by the Department of Commerce.' 'This was another idea of the president and his brain trust on his trade team to try to get good deals for the American people and the American taxpayer,' she added. It's not clear such deals would be legal. Export taxes are barred by the Constitution, while fees for export licenses are prohibited under federal law. However, it's unclear whether the 15 percent cut from Nvidia and AMD's chip sales would count as a formal tax or fee, as well as whether anyone would bring such a challenge. Still, several raised concerns about the precedent set by the deal, noting there are many other American-made products China would be interested in purchasing that could be detrimental to U.S. interests. 'Are we now going to see the Commerce Department shaking down high-tech exporters generally for a 15 percent cut? Are we going to see the State Department, which regulates exports of defense weaponry, start shaking down defense exporters for a 15 percent cut?' Harrell asked. 'I have to assume that there would be some lines, maybe it is F-35s. Would he sell nuclear weapons? You have to think there are some lines that Trump wouldn't cross. But this is blowing past a bunch of past precedent, and I think suggests that whatever lines he does have that he would not be willing to cross are very, very different from the lines any previous president would have had.' Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) noted that Trump has also sought to bypass a law passed by Congress and signed by former President Biden that would block the popular app TikTok unless the China-based ByteDance sells the company. Born out of fears that Chinese law could require the app to hand over data on Americans, Trump has punted enforcement, signing three separate extensions. 'So now the US government is financially motivated to sell AI to China?' Auchincloss wrote on the social platform X. 'Makes me shudder to think what a TikTok deal might look like.' Tobin, however, said China is likely to set their sights on securing more advanced chips than the H20, including the Blackwell, which is still under development. Trump suggested Monday that he would consider making a deal on a reduced-capacity version of the Blackwell. Trump's dealmaking, Tobin said, will suggest to the Chinese that such things are now open to negotiation, a dynamic she warns the government is also using with Nvidia. China's warning not to immediately order Nvidia's chips serves a twofold purpose, she said, one that allows them to exert some control over the company while opening the door to demanding information about the chips that could aid in their replication. 'They know there are technical means that could potentially be weaponized,' she said, adding that while China has 'rational' security concerns, the move is also 'a pretext for squeezing out more from Nvidia' by a country that has previously required companies to share their intellectual property. 'The Chinese government has already been calling Nvidia in to explain whether its chips are secure, and that's a way to put Nvidia on notice and say, 'Hey, you better be behaving the way we want you to, or else we're going to make it very painful for you to stay in the China market.'' Nvidia has previously said it would not send 'any [graphics processing unit] designs to China to be modified to comply with export controls.' 'Our products are extraordinarily complex and take tens of thousands of engineering years to create, and by the time an NVIDIA product is available in the market, we are already far along in our design of the next one,' a spokesperson said Tuesday. Any Chinese advances may mean the deal may only be of short-term value to Nvidia, Tobin argued, but it's one she said the government should shield against. 'The role of government is to put the guardrails on so that private interests don't control our national security,' Tobin said.
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
Billy Long's IRS ouster follows clashes with Treasury
President Trump's removal of Billy Long as head of the IRS after only two months on the job has cast an uncomfortable spotlight on the agency, which already churned through six different leaders this year. Multiple sources familiar with the matter told The Hill that leadership at the Treasury Department clashed with Long and that there were concerns within the administration that he was not a good fit to lead an agency that prides itself on implementing tax policy without getting caught up in partisan drama. But his exit also means the IRS will have its seventh commissioner of the calendar year, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent taking over on an interim basis. 'I think they're going through turbulence right now,' one source familiar with the matter told The Hill. 'People just don't know yet what the future holds.' Long was a controversial choice to lead the IRS, which is a technocratic agency responsible for collecting tax revenue and enforcing the nation's tax laws. A former Republican congressman from Missouri, Long previously worked as an auctioneer and a real estate broker. He drew scrutiny over his promotion of a pandemic-era tax credit that was riddled with fraudulent claims. The former congressman lasted less than two months on the job after being confirmed in June in a party-line Senate vote. Sources told The Hill that there was growing frustration among Treasury officials with IRS leadership since Long's arrival as commissioner. One source familiar with the matter said Long had gone off script and made remarks that required clarifications or cleaning up, something viewed as a particular issue on an issue as sensitive as taxes. One incident in particular was viewed as the final straw when Long last month said at a conference that tax filing season would start in February next year, a change from the typical starting point of January. In a social media post minutes after he announced his departure from the IRS, Long wrote that tax filing season 'will start at the customary time around MLK Day.' 'These folks are pros and know what they are doing,' Long added of top Treasury officials. One source told The Hill that senior Treasury officials felt Long's tenure was 'an impossible situation' that needed to be resolved. The Washington Post reported that there was another reason for Long's shift to an ambassadorship: That the IRS had clashed with the White House over a push to use private tax data to track down undocumented immigrants. 'I think the president wants to see Billy Long as the ambassador to Iceland. As you know, that's where he will be headed,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to a question from The Hill during Tuesday's press briefing. 'And the president loves Billy Long, and he thinks that he can serve the administration well in this position.' A Treasury spokesperson praised Long's 'zeal and enthusiasm to bring a fresh perspective to the Federal Government.' The spokesperson said a new candidate for IRS commissioner will be announced 'at the appropriate time.' Trump is expected to announce his choice to replace Long sooner rather than later. Bessent is already deeply involved in macro-economic issues and has been Trump's point person on trade talks, making it difficult for him to also oversee the IRS even on an interim basis. The next IRS commissioner will also be tasked with overseeing the first tax season since passage of the massive reconciliation bill. The legislation extended the 2017 tax cuts and enacted changes to the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, the child tax credit, taxes on tipped wages and taxes on overtime wages and various other smaller alterations. 'You want stability of leadership,' one source told The Hill. 'That creates an atmosphere and environment for the organization to get its job done, to reduce mistakes and to meet its mission.' The change atop the IRS comes at a time when Democrats are sounding alarms about Trump's decision to push out Erika McEntarfer as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and replace her with a conservative economist. The move came after the jobs report released in early August showed lower-than-expected hiring in July and major downward revisions to the jobs reports from May and June. While Trump and his allies argued the change would improve transparency and accuracy, critics noted McEntarfer had little to do with what the numbers showed. Economists and lawmakers also expressed concern that it would erode credibility and confidence in government data, hurting businesses and consumers in the process. 'In just a handful of months, Trump and his crew have already gutted taxpayer service, weaponized IRS data against innocent taxpayers and set us up for disaster when next year's filing season comes around,' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. 'This is what Trump does — pick incompetent, unserious people for serious jobs, and sit back as the damage piles up.'
