Scoop: Sherrod Brown met with Schumer in Ohio amid 2026 Senate push

• Brown, 72, lost re-election last year, and is considering both a Senate and gubernatorial bid in Ohio, according to sources familiar with his thinking.
• The former three-term Democratic senator is likely his party's best chance at running a competitive 2026 campaign in the state.
• Former Vice President Kamala Harris lost Ohio last year by over 10 points. Brown lost by just under four points.

The big picture: Schumer has limited pickup opportunities in the Senate next year. Hitting recruitment home runs could help him expand that map.

• Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) on Monday announced he would run for Senate. Axios scooped last week that Cooper was planning to enter the race, which was a priority for Schumer and co.
• Democrats are also hopeful that Maine Gov. Janet Mills will decide to run for Senate next year, challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for the seat.

Zoom in: While party insiders see Ohio as a stretch target for Democrats, Brown's entrance would instantly shift those dynamics.

• He'd face Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill the vacant seat created when JD Vance resigned from the Senate to serve as vice president.

Between the lines: Since leaving office, Brown has launched a pro-workers organization that promotes understanding the lives of American workers.

• And since his loss last year, Brown has made the case in public columns that the Democratic Party must reconnect with the working class.
• "It is an electoral and a moral imperative, and it will be my mission for the rest of my life," Brown wrote in a March column for The New Republic.
• "To win the White House and governing majorities again, Democrats must reckon with how far our party has strayed from our New Deal roots, in terms of both our philosophy toward the economy, and the makeup of our coalition."

Representatives for Schumer and Brown did not immediately respond to requests for comment.