The Dictatorship
Sherrod Brown could stage a 2026 upset — but he’s going to have to change some things
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Tuesday that Sherrod Brown, a three-term U.S. senator who lost to Cleveland auto dealer Bernie Moreno in last year’s election, has decided to run for the Senate seat JD Vance had before he was elected vice president. The Plain Dealer quoted Ohio labor leaders who said Brown told them of his plan to run for the seat now occupied by former Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. Brown, who would give Democrats a chance at reclaiming the Senate, is expected to formally announce his intentions within the next two weeks.
Brown, who would give Democrats a chance at reclaiming the Senate, is expected to formally announce within the next two weeks.
The news doesn’t come as a big surprise. When Brown lost to Moreno, few people in Ohio politics expected the populist Democrat to walk off into the sunset. And the signs of his potential return have been hard to miss. He and his wife relocated to Columbus from the Cleveland area this year, which added to speculation that he was biding his time for a political comeback. When he and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were seen huddling in a Columbus restaurant in late July, it seemed clear to political insiders Schumer was part of a recruitment campaign to convince Brown to run in 2026.
The news that the 72-year-old Brown is running has been enthusiastically heralded by Ohio Democrats who see it as a recruitment coup for the party in its uphill battle to unseat Husted, who was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine. Many Ohioans couldn’t tell you who Husted is, but almost everybody knows Brown. After some 50 years in public office, his wide name recognition in the state is undisputed. He’s a Democrat in a red state with a track record of winning against Republicans. Yes, Moreno, a Republican political newcomer, ended Brown’s winning streak last year when he won by about 3.5 percentage points. But President Donald Trump won the state by 11 pointswhich suggests that Brown appealed to a segment of voters who chose Trump. Clearly, Moreno benefited from Trump’s coattails.
Husted cast his lot with the top 10% over the welfare of working Ohioans when he voted for Trump’s debt-ballooning $4 trillion tax cut to the ultra-rich on the backs of the poor. So in 2026, without Trump leading the ticket, Husted could be vulnerable to a well-experienced challenger with a chip on his shoulder who can effectively energize an already highly motivated base to turn out in droves for the midterms. By the time voters go to the polls next year, who knows how much fallout there will have been from the anything but “beautiful bill” Husted supported? But a sufficient number of Ohioans is likely to be fighting mad about sky-high prices, shuttered factories, dropped health insurance, shredded safety nets, gutted public services and a reduction in vital veterans’ support. There’s also likely to be anger at armed military in the streets and sprawling detention centers for immigrants that simulate concentration camps.
Brown will work to make Husted own the pain caused to Ohio families who will lose their SNAP benefits, to Ohio veterans who will be denied care to due to mass staffing cuts and eliminated services, and to the strategically delayed (until after the midterms) Medicaid cuts and work requirements that could leave 440,000 Ohioans uninsured.
Expect him to launch a sustained offensive against Husted’s rubber-stamp endorsement of historic cuts to Medicaid and food assistance.
Expect Brown to lead the charge for human dignity over despair, justice over lawlessness, better outcomes for everyday Americans over what the Trumpian plutocracy offers in scraps to everyone but the favored wealthy. Expect him to launch a sustained offensive against Husted’s rubber-stamp endorsement of historic cuts to Medicaid and food assistance that will be paid for by hundreds of thousands of uninsured and hungry constituents.
But Brown cannot wage the same old-school, play-it-safe campaign he ran in 2024, when even challenger Moreno mocked him publicly for his timidity to make waves. He cannot pull punches. He cannot misread the moment or the mindset of rank-and-file Democrats, independents and Never-Trumpers who are screaming for bold, authentic, tell-it-like-it-is fighters to save the country. They have had it with play-by-the-book, norms-abiding, feckless politicians who talk like infuriating politicians. If Brown can make it personal with Ohio voters who feel betrayed by Husted and his party, who are drowning in the cost of living, struggling to afford tariff-inflated groceries, utilities, out-of-pocket medical care and ever rising rent on incomes stretched to the max, he can win.
If he can make it personal with Ohio farmers reeling from Trump’s funding cuts to promised subsidies and market-destroying tariffs slapped on key trading partners, he can broaden his appeal in rural communities. If he can make it personal about growing numbers of children and seniors denied food aid in the bill Husted endorsedhe can make empathy a call for action. If he can make it personal on immigrants Ohioans know and respect being treated like dogs as masked thugs raid farms and Home Depot parking lots to stuff them into unmarked vans to be disappeared, he can be a welcomed voice for humanity, decency and the rule of law to forcefully counter a lawless Trump regime Husted supports.
Ohio Demcorats haven’t cultivated a farm team of young, communications-savvy Democrats who can win a statewide election. Thus, Brown is the only real chance Democrats have against Husted. In addition to having to defend the big, awful bill to constituents on the losing end of unpaid-for giveaways to the wealthiest Americans, Husted, a former state lawmaker, will also have to defend himself from the stench of being associated with a bribery scandal that involved the utility company FirstEnergy spending $61 million for a $1 billion bailout and resulted in a former Republican Ohio House Speaker being sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Text messages between a FirstEnergy CEO and a vice president who have since been charged in an alleged federal racketeering conspiracy related to the bribery scandal include descriptions of phone conversations they say they had with Husted about the legislation— some he apparently initiated — and reveal that they considered him the lawmaker handling the details of the bailout legislation. Husted, who was never charged with a crime, has said he didn’t know about any bribes regarding the bailout legislation that he helped get passed.
If Brown taps into the growing movement demanding a course correction, raises enough money to compete with the ton of cash coming Husted’s way and reminds voters why they sent him to the U.S. Senate three times before, he could well return to the upper chamber on Capitol Hill in a blue-wave election. But “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Husted has to be considered the favorite. A Brown win would be an upset.
Marila Johanek
Marilou Johanek is a veteran Ohio print and broadcast journalist who has covered state and national politics in addition to early writing and producing stints at CBS News and BLN. The Ohio native has also analyzed policymaking and political players as a longtime newspaper editorial writer and columnist. She is currently a weekly columnist for the Ohio Capital Journal, which is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
- Republicans struggle for footing on data center response ahead of midterms
- Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine
- Hospitals say coming Trump administration rules are worse than GOP’s Medicaid cuts
- Congress warms to Trump’s Hollywood tax credit effort
- Republicans aren’t exactly flocking to Trump’s midterm convention
- Jeffries says Dems who saved GOP’s agenda deserve ‘serious response’
- Handful of House Democrats split on GOP resolution condemning socialism
- JD Vance courts Jewish Republicans. Tucker Carlson still looms.
- Trump to promote acting Navy secretary amid Pentagon turmoil
- Hegseth is winning the battle over the Pentagon’s future
-
Politics2 years agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics2 years agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
The Dictatorship12 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words