The contest for control of the United States Senate seat in Ohio is close, and the Democrat incumbent is sweating as his Republican opponent, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, surges.

Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, a favorite among Democrat voters, is behind to his challenger, Bernie Moreno, in a new poll from Napolitan News on Wednesday which shows the Republican with 48% of the vote, compared to the incumbent’s 46%.

It marks the first time that the Republican candidate has been ahead of Brown, a fixture in Ohio politics, as the state shifts more and more towards becoming a red state.

Moreno is leading among white voters, male voters, and voters in the age range of 30 – 64, and he also holds a lead with Republican and Independent voters.

And advertising funds are also becoming an advantage for the Republican candidate, NBC News reported.

From the primaries in March through August, Democrats had a comfortable edge in advertising dollars, with $78.5 million spent by Democrats compared to $59 million spent by Republicans.

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But since then, much like the politics of The Buckeye State, the advertising dollars have shifted.

In September Republicans, including groups supporting the candidate, have spent $70 million compared to the Democrats $35 million.

“Red flashing lights have to be blinking all over [Brown’s] campaign headquarters,” Jai Chabria, an Ohio Republican strategist who assisted Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance’s, successful 2022 campaign., said. “The Republican money has just started to be spent, and they are going to take this seriously because this is the race they need for the majority.”

Brown spokesperson Matt Keyes complained about “special interest groups” when he spoke to NBC News.

“Bernie’s special interest allies are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into this race to try and defeat Sherrod because they know Sherrod will always stand up to them to do what’s right for Ohio,” he said.

Democrats hold a razor-thin one-seat majority in the Senate, which is in serious jeopardy as Brown is sinking and Montana Sen. Jon Tester is facing a strong challenge.

“We need to continue to invest in Ohio,” DSCC chairman, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters said Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington. “We’re not done investing in Ohio, and it will take more money. But right now … we have a lot of outside groups that are dumping tens of millions of dollars against Sherrod, trying to prop up another highly flawed candidate.”

The election is 38 days away and much can still change in that time but Moreno appears to be surging at the best time as the Republican also leads the incumbent Democrat, who remains a formidable opponent, in two other polls.

One of those polls was done by ActiVote and showed that the Republican has a 2-point lead over the incumbent at 51 percent to his 49 percent.

And a poll done by RMG Research showed that Moreno had a 2-point lead, 48 percent to Brown’s 46 percent.

“Moreno benefits from the fact that Donald Trump is leading the presidential race in Ohio by 11 points Still, Brown is supported by 93 percent of Harris voters while Moreno is currently supported by 83 percent of Trump voters,” famed pollster Scott Rasmussen said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

One of the top issues for the Moreno campaign, and for Ohio voters, is the fading coal industry.

Moreno addressed the issue in a post on X.

“Sherrod Brown’s policies have led to many lost, good-paying coal mining jobs in Ohio. His reckless embrace of the green new scam, left-wing agenda will end coal mining in America,” he said.

“We will retire Sherrod Brown, save coal mining jobs, and restore American energy dominance,” he said.