A slew of candidates who lost high-profile Senate races last year are asking voters to give them another shot with the midterm elections around the corner.
Democrat Sherrod Brown, the former Ohio senator, became the latest politician to announce a comeback bid Monday after losing in a presidential election year that buoyed his GOP rival. Before him, it was Dan Osborn, the independent populist who gave Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) a run for her money in Nebraska, and days earlier, former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, who drew outsize attention and gobs of cash to his failed race in Texas.
On the GOP side, former congressman Mike Rogers announced he is running in April after losing a Senate race in Michigan by less than one percentage point.
The trend is not limited to candidates who mounted failed runs last year. Scott Brown, a former Massachusetts senator, will run in New Hampshire after unsuccessful campaigns for Senate more than a decade ago. Meanwhile, state GOP Treasurer John Fleming, who lost a 2016 Senate primary in Louisiana, is rechallenging his party this time to unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
In some cases, the candidates are top recruits for their party, which gives them a fighting chance to reclaim seats in next year’s battlegrounds. That’s the bet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is making on Sherrod Brown, who outran Vice President Kamala Harris and was the only statewide Democrat left in Ohio.
But there’s bad news for the candidates hoping to regain their seats. Since 1913, when states began choosing senators by direct popular vote, just 17 who lost were later reelected to the upper chamber, according to an analysis by Eric Ostermeier, who runs data-based reporting site Smart Politics.
If either Brown were to win their bids, they would be the first example of a Senate election rebound since Washington Republican Slade Gorton in 1988, per Ostermeier.
Ultimately, both parties see upsides to running defeated candidates, including their statewide name ID and established fundraising networks, which are crucial to winning competitive races. Allred could face a primary challenge from another Democrat, including Beto O’Rourke, after having the field largely to himself in 2024, but in other races, party leadership has helped clear the primary for their recruits. Rogers, for example, is running unopposed for the GOP nomination.
In Michigan, Republican operatives consider the battleground a “top-tier” race this cycle, given the 2026 map’s smaller size. Rogers won’t have to compete for national GOP resources like in 2024 with West Virginia and Montana, where Republicans flipped blue seats crucial to retaking Senate control.
There is concern about whether Rogers can win without Trump’s coattails, but Republicans believe they have a campaign strategy that can tap into his base.
“Trump 2024 gave us a road map over low-propensity voters. Rogers has the benefit of learning from that,” a source familiar with the Rogers campaign told reporters this summer. “We know who these voters are and what messages worked.”
In some cases, the election margins were narrow enough for candidates to argue that this time around, things would be different.
Rogers lost last year to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) by just 0.3 points, and currently gets to campaign in general election mode as a competitive Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) plays out.
Brown, of Ohio, was unseated by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) by roughly 3.5 points and is now challenging Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH).
Brown, of Massachusetts, is somewhat of an exception as he’s lost twice in two different states: the first in 2012 in Massachusetts, when he was ousted by now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and the second in 2014 in New Hampshire, when he lost to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Brown lost to Shaheen, who’s retiring, by a little more than three points.
Others suffered wider margins of defeat.
Osborn lost to Fischer by just under 7 points but proved themselves to be a more formidable candidate in a ruby red state than Republicans initially anticipated. He’s now running against Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE).
Allred faced off against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year and lost by 8.5 points. The Democratic primary winner will face either Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) or state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging Cornyn for the GOP nomination.
Fleming is primarying Cassidy, who has the endorsement of national Republicans like Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), but Trump has so far not waded into the race. Fleming lost the 2016 Senate GOP primary to now-Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
Given Louisiana’s heavy Republican tilt, Fleming is by default the “best situated to win a general election of all these retread candidates, but will first need to defeat an extremely well-funded incumbent in the Louisiana GOP primary,” Ostermeier told the Washington Examiner.
At the same time, both parties are using the candidates’ previous losses to paint them as failed and unelectable rivals.
REPUBLICANS PUSH THE LIMITS TO REVAMP CAMPAIGN FINANCE OPERATIONS
Moreno noted recently that Sherrod Brown “already lost” and suggested he “just retire with dignity.”
In New Hampshire’s race, Senate Democrats’ campaign arm said Republicans were “resorting to a candidate Granite Staters have already rejected” with Scott Brown’s candidacy.
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
