diff --git a/dev/release/download_rc_binaries.py b/dev/release/download_rc_binaries.py
index 6a66b418d3c..9bde70ed0d0 100755
--- a/dev/release/download_rc_binaries.py
+++ b/dev/release/download_rc_binaries.py
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def _download_url(self, url, dest_path, *, extra_args=None):
                     os.remove(dest_path)
                 except IOError:
                     pass
-                if "OpenSSL" not in stderr:
+                if b"OpenSSL" not in stderr:
                     # We assume curl has already retried on other errors.
                     break
             else: