Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, launches his campaign for US Senate

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose launched a bid for the U.S. Senate on Monday, describing himself as a “battle-tested” conservative who represents the Republican Party’s best chance to unseat third-term Democrat Sherrod Brown next year and win back the closely divided chamber. “To be blunt, we’ve got a country to save,” LaRose said in an interview with The Associated Press. “In the days ahead, the people of Ohio should ask themselves: What is Frank LaRose really doing for us?” Reeves Oyster, Brown’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. Voters first sent Brown to the U.S. Senate in 2007 after 14 years as a congressman, two terms as secretary of state and eight years as a state representative. Voters twice elected Trump by wide margins and, outside the state Supreme Court, Brown is the only Democrat to win election statewide since 2006.