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Ohio Families Now Paying $1,650 More In Added Costs Thanks to Husted-Backed War

COLUMBUS, OHIO — While Jon Husted continues to claim that he wants the endless Iran war that has sent food and energy costs soaring for Ohioans to “end as soon as possible,” his record proves just the opposite. 

Husted has said the same for months while voting 13 separate times to support the war that Ohioans are paying for. Today, Husted’s office confirmed he would keep voting to continue the war.

Meanwhile, the average price of diesel has reached an all time high of over $6 per gallon with no end in sight. Last week, an independent analysis found the average family in Ohio is paying $1,650 more because of the increase in energy, food, and interest costs due to the war.

Ohio Democratic Party Senior Communications Advisor Tony Wen released the following statement:

“Jon Husted can try to rewrite history, but his record is crystal clear: he has voted thirteen times to back the endless war in Iran that has sent the cost of everything up for Ohio families. Ohioans are getting crushed by higher gas, grocery, and energy bills, and Husted cannot erase those votes just because they have become politically inconvenient.”

While Husted keeps voting to make everything more expensive, he also can’t help himself from insulting hardworking Ohioans struggling because of his votes:

• Husted claimed that the military operation “went very well” while admitting the war he supported “has put a strain on Americans.”

• When asked if he was okay with not knowing how long the war will last or how much taxpayer dollars will be spent, Husted replied, “it’s not really up to us.”

• When asked what he was doing to address rising gas prices for his constituents, Husted responded: “What do you want me to do?” 

• When a truck driver asked about soaring diesel costs, Husted brushed him off and responded by asking if he was comfortable with Iran being a nuclear power. 

• Husted has claimed that he thinks the war is “good news for the global economy” and going “much better than anyone thought it would.”

• Husted continues to insult struggling Ohioans as “not very experienced at navigating the real world” and consistently dismisses the mounting affordability crisis by telling Ohioans to fix their “work ethic” and to simply “earn more” money to make ends meet.

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Columbus, Ohio- Vivek Ramaswamy copied Dr. Acton’s call for a gas tax holiday in Ohio despite showing Ohioans over and over he doesn’t care about lowering costs or making life better for working families. Dr. Acton called for a gas tax holiday early Monday, while Ramaswamy’s latest scam policy wasn’t released until hours later.

This isn’t the first time Ramaswamy has been two steps behind Dr. Acton in a desperate attempt to revive his flailing campaign. His data center scam came almost a week after Dr. Acton called for a conditional moratorium on out-of-control data centers that are raising costs for working families. 

“Billionaire scam artist Vivek Ramaswamy is once again late to the game. Ohioans deserve lower costs as gas prices skyrocket, but they know they cannot trust Ramaswamy, who believes affordability is a ‘buzzword’ and says struggling Ohioans are whiners, to bring down the high price of everything,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Working families deserve a governor who really cares about lowering costs, not a billionaire scammer whose only priorities are lining his own pockets and salvaging his flailing campaign.”

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WASHINGTON POST: Ohio Senate campaign staffer used Nazi soldiers as profile photo

CLEVELAND, OHIO — In case you missed it, Jewish and Black faith leaders across Cleveland came together to condemn Jon Husted for hiring a Nazi enthusiast as a member of his senior campaign team.

The Washington Post reported that Jon Husted hired a Nazi sympathizer “wearing an SS uniform” as his political director, who used a “photo of SS soldiers as his Facebook profile photo and recently added to a public playlist of songs celebrating Rhodesia,” an apartheid colony that has become a rallying symbol for white supremacists. 

See For Yourself: 

Fox 8 Cleveland: Cleveland Jewish and Black Faith Leaders Condemn Jon Husted For Hiring a Nazi Sympathizer

• Fox 8 Cleveland: Multiple leaders from Cleveland’s Black and Jewish communities gathered to condemn Husted’s campaign over the hiring. 

• Pastor Napoleon Harris: It’s a moral shame that it took external pressure from the press to make the campaign part ways with a polarizing, problematic person, and it’s an even greater moral shame that Nazi enthusiasm was not loudly condemned.

Spectrum News: Cleveland Jewish and Black Faith Leaders Condemn Jon Husted For Hiring a Nazi Sympathizer

• Spectrum News: Local faith leaders on Thursday said the incident calls into question Husted’s ability to lead. 

• Adam Rosen, Jewish Democratic Council of America, Ohio Chapter Lead: This is simply unacceptable for an elected official asking Ohioans to trust his judgment at the highest level of government. Ohio leaders should reflect Ohioans’ values. They should never give a platform to deeply disturbing and hateful imagery that can become normalized.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Black, Jewish leaders question Husted campaign vetting after staffer’s Nazi post

• Black and Jewish community leaders on Thursday questioned how a campaign aide with a history of posting Nazi-related imagery on social media was hired as a senior staffer for U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign, arguing that it reflects a failure of judgment and vetting.

• The criticism came during a news conference at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens after Husted’s campaign fired political director Stephen Woytek following a Washington Post report detailing that the staffer had used a photo of Nazi SS soldiers as his Facebook profile picture.

• The community leaders Thursday repeatedly said the issue extends beyond Woytek’s conduct and instead raises concerns about how he was hired in the first place.

• “See, we live in a high-stakes society where all jobs are vetted to social media, and we know political campaigns vet social media too. And we expect our political leaders to know better, and quite frankly, to just be better,” said Pastor Napoleon J. Harris of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland.

• “It’s a moral shame that it took external pressure from the press to make a campaign part ways with a polarizing, problematic person, and it’s an even greater moral shame that Nazi enthusiasm was not loudly condemned.”

• Harris called Nazism, white supremacy and antisemitism “evil” and argued public officials should clearly denounce them.

• “Nazism hatred, injustice, and white supremacy are not normal. They are not just errors in judgment, Harris said. ”Having an extra beer, wearing a Steelers jersey to a Browns game — those are errors in judgment. This is evil. It’s wrong.”

• State Rep. Eric Synenberg, a Beachwood Democrat and one of the General Assembly’s Jewish members, said the episode raised broader concerns about Husted’s judgment and campaign vetting procedures.

• “I stand here today really frustrated that in 2026 we are still having to call out a failure like this from a sitting United States senator,” Synenberg said.

• Synenberg said Woytek’s social media activity was publicly available and questioned how someone with that history was selected for one of the campaign’s most senior positions.

• “At the core of this issue is a basic responsibility — doing the necessary research and due diligence before hiring someone to serve as a political director, one of the most important positions on a campaign,” he said.

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Columbus, Ohio- A newly unearthed clip revealed Vivek Ramaswamy said he didn’t “like the existence” of policies like Social Security and Medicaid, completely undermining their purpose of allowing Ohioans to retire with dignity. Ramaswamy previously called Medicaid and Medicare “mistakes” and said privatizing Social Security was a “reasonable conversation to have.”

WATCH THE FULL CLIP HERE:

Ramaswamy: I don’t believe it is a separation of powers issue for Congress to say that there’s a certain amount of money that gets paid out in Social Security or Medicaid payments or in welfare payments; I don’t like the existence of those policies. I would vote to significantly constrain and attach work requirements to most of the welfare state as we know it. But as much as I would love to end that by any means possible…

“Of course billionaire scam artist Vivek Ramaswamy, who thinks that rising costs are only in our imagination, doesn’t like the existence of lifesaving programs like Medicaid and Social Security,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “In the middle of an affordability crisis, the programs Ramaswamy wants to gut have never been more essential. Ohio’s working families can’t afford Vivek Ramaswamy.” 

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Columbus, Ohio — Today, the Ohio State Buckeyes take on Kent State University at home. While Ohioans from all corners of the state will have their eyes on the game, Vivek Ramaswamy is more focused on his extreme, out-of-touch plan to shut down Ohio colleges and universities. Ramaswamy specifically named Kent State in an op-ed doubling down on his plan.

Students and leaders from Kent State have slammed Ramaswamy’s plan. Kent State President Todd Diacon said public universities were “not a waste” and are “Ohio investing in itself.” Republican Governor Mike DeWine has repeatedly shut down Ramaswamy’s college closure plan and recently assured university leaders the plan wouldn’t become reality—for now.

WATCH RAMASWAMY IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“I want us to have the best universities, but we have too many of them. They need to be consolidated.”

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