U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown further cemented U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan's hold as the favorite for the Ohio 2022 Democratic U.S. Senate nomination with his endorsement on Wednesday.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Brown is one of several Ohio party endorsements for Ryan since he announced he was running to replace Republican Rob Portman, who said in January he isn't running for a third term. The Youngstown congressman's only major opponent is Morgan Harper, an Ohio attorney who has run in one race for Congress. On the Republican side of the ticket, 11 candidates are in the race, including Middletown's J.D. Vance and Josh Mandel, who was told to leave a Lakota Local School District board meeting earlier this week after he was asked by a parent to challenge the school's mask policy for students.
Ryan is hoping to end a slump for Democrats in the state, who other than Brown haven't won a statewide office in Ohio over the past decade and where both Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden lost to Donald Trump during the last two presidential elections.
