OHIO — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Monday he's running for Senate, becoming the third prominent Republican to enter the 2024 race.

What You Need To Know

  • LaRose joins two other Republicans looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown: Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan

  • LaRose, who is 44 and an Akron native, is currently serving as Ohio’s 51st Secretary of State — a position he has held since 2019

  • He previously served two terms in the Ohio Senate for the Akron area

"Like a lot of Ohioans, I’m concerned about the direction of our country,” said LaRose in the announcement. “As the father of three young girls, I’m not willing to sit quietly while the woke left tries to cancel the American Dream. We have a duty to defend the values that made America the hope of the world.”

LaRose, 44, will join Republicans Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman and state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians franchise. Both also ran in the previous Ohio Senate race, but lost to Sen. JD Vance. 

The announcement comes after multiple hints on social media from LaRose. He had also said earlier in the year that he had planned to make a decision in the summer. 

“I’m running against two former Democrats in the Republican primary and an incumbent senator who has one of the most liberal voting records in the Congress,” said LaRose. “I’m the only candidate who can point to a consistently conservative voting record. I’m also the only veteran in the race, the only member of the military and the only parent of grade-school kids. It’s time Ohio had a senator who lives like us, believes like us, and fights for us, and I’m not one to back down from a fight.”

LaRose, an Akron native, has held the position of Ohio’s 51st secretary of state since 2019. He previously served two terms in the Ohio Senate serving the Akron area. In running for Senate, he's now looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has held the position since 2007 and is vying for another term. 

LaRose has been known to praise Ohio's election security, and refuted theories about Ohio's 2020 election results. When rerunning for his current position in 2022, former President Donald Trump endorsed him.

Lately, LaRose has been advocating for Issue 1 on the Aug. 8 special election ballot, which if approved, would make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution. 

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