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WHAT OHIOANS ARE WATCHING: Jon Husted Begs For Billionaires And Corporations To Bail Out Failing Campaign

COLUMBUS, OHIO — In case you missed it, a new NRSC memo shows that Jon Husted — “the face of data centers” — is being crushed for leading the charge to bring hundreds of massive, power-hungry facilities to Ohio that have sent electricity rates skyrocketing.

The memo states that “Ohio is one of the leaders in building these AI factories,” largely due to Husted giving billions in out-of-control tax breaks to attract massive corporations to Ohio. The memo also claims that data centers are “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”

See For Yourself: 

Fox News: Special Report with Bret Baier

  • Bret Baier, Fox News: A Republican campaign group is warning toxic views of [data centers] could harm the party’s chances of holding a vital senate seat.
  • Mark Meredith, Fox News: … will help him beat incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted, who over the years strongly supported data center development in the state. 
  • Meredith: In a memo, the National Republican Senatorial Committee writes this has become a sleeper issue for the entire election cycle. Fox polling shows Husted trailing Brown by eight points.

WEWS: Leaked memo about data centers shows GOP worried about Ohio’s U.S. Senate race

  • Morgan Trau, WEWS: A leaked memo created by national Republican leaders shows their fears that Democrats, specifically in Ohio, are winning over voters on a very divisive issue: data centers.
  • Trau: Brown’s ads are accurate — that Husted did help bring a slew of data centers to Ohio, which his former running mate, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, defends.
  • Trau: After Brown’s ad started airing, Husted proposed a bill in congress to require states to require companies to pay for their own power. Brown says Husted could have put guardrails in place when he helped lead the state house.
  • Trau: Husted didn’t respond to comment for this story and neither did the national campaign committee.

MS NOW: The Briefing with Jen Psaki

  • Jen Psaki, MS NOW: Former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is mounting a strong challenge against Republican Senator Jon Husted. A recent Fox News poll found Sherrod Brown leading Husted by eight points in a head to head matchup.
  • Psaki: Sherrod Brown is making Jon Husted the face of unpopular AI data centers in Ohio, and all across the country, I should note, people are pushing back against AI companies building big data centers in their communities.
  • Psaki: Today, Axios actually obtained a new memo from the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee detailing how that anti data center messaging is hurting Jon Husted. And they write “more than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.” 

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Jon Husted is the face of data centers in Ohio, and Republicans nationwide fear what that means

  • As lieutenant governor, Jon Husted smiled as he trumpeted data center tax breaks to Ohioans, claiming the state would become a tech hub.
  • Now that Ohioans hate the energy sucking developments, Republican Sen. Husted is backing off — all while his Democratic opponent, Sherrod Brown, is calling Husted the face of data centers.

Signal Ohio: ‘The anchor around Husted’s neck’: Data centers are dominating Ohio politics

  • Republicans think data centers are killing Husted’s chances
  • Don’t just take it from us. Take it from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Republicans. The group issued an extraordinary memo to AI companies this week that describes the situation facing Republican Sen. Jon Husted in dire terms.
  • “More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck,” states the memo, which was first reported by Axios and independently obtained by Signal Statewide.

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ICYMI: Ohioans In Lima Rally Against Jon Husted For Bringing Hundreds of Data Centers to Ohio

WLIO: ‘The group says Husted is blaming Ohioans for rising electric costs’

COLUMBUS, OHIO — In case you missed it, Lima City Councilwoman Jeannine Jordan, Shelby County farmer Chris Gibbs, and Ohioans facing skyrocketing electric bills rallied against Jon Husted for his record of bringing hundreds of data centers to Ohio while local communities were left with the bill.

Jon Husted blames Ohioans for data centers, telling listeners in a recent interview that “we are the problem.” While Husted blames families and local communities, Ohio electric bills are now projected to be over $800 for the summer — a massive increase. 

See For Yourself:

WLIO: Lima-area Democrats call for change as Ohio data center debate continues

  • About a dozen area Democrats gathered Tuesday to criticize comments made by U.S. Sen. Jon Husted during a recent podcast, saying his policies on data centers are contributing to higher electric rates in Ohio.
  • The group says Husted is blaming Ohioans for rising electric costs because of increased daily use of artificial intelligence, while they argue the state’s growing number of data centers is a major factor.
  • There are more than 200 data centers in Ohio, according to the Democrats at the rally. They called Husted the face of Ohio’s data center expansion and criticized what they described as closed-door dealings surrounding the industry.
  • Christopher Gibbs, chair of the Shelby County Democratic Party, said Husted’s record on utility rates has been a problem for Ohio.
  • “Jon Husted has been a disaster on utility rates from the first energy scandal that’s cost the state billions in tax revenue, plus his giveaway to data centers that have taken away all of the opportunities for our communities, our small communities, to make good decisions and take advantage of data centers and all of the work that it provides instead of being taken advantage of. And I’m calling him out right here, right today,” said Gibbs.
  • Lew Modic, a Democratic candidate for Allen County commissioner, said more transparency is needed when it comes to data center development.
  • “The way we have done this has been behind closed doors and so much secrecy Nobody knows what’s in it for us as a community long term and the information is not coming out,” said Modic.
  • Jeannine Jordan, the fourth Ward Lima City Council member, also criticized Husted.
  • “I think it’s important that we get rid of Husted and institute government that believes that we are the solution, not the problem,” said Jordan.

Lima News: Democrat rally criticizes Husted over data centers

  • With election season coming up, Allen County Democrats held a rally Tuesday against U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, in Lima’s Town Square, tying the senator to the ongoing debate in the state concerning the growth of data centers.
  • “I’ve been all over the state talking to residents, talking to rural folks, and what they’re concerned about is those nondiscretionary cost of kitchen table issues, and that includes utility rates,” said Chris Gibbs. “Jon Husted has been a disaster on utility rates. His giveaway to data centers has taken away all of the opportunities for our small communities to make good decisions, and takes advantage of data centers.”
  • A recent interview Husted had with Cleveland talk radio personality Bob Frantz was also brought up, and interview in which Husted said, “We just have to realize, we’re in this world in which we’ve created the demand for these data centers because we use all of these digital products that it processes, and if we don’t want them, then don’t use them. So understand, when we look in the mirror, we are the problem.”
  • [Lima Councilwoman Jeannine] Jordan responded by asserting that technology is too integrated into daily life to say that one can just pull the plug and reduce demand.
  • “Big corporations and tech are embedding it [AI] as part of our daily lives, we can’t opt out of it,” she said. “There’s a little bit of an abuser mentality there, a cycle that really is not fitting with what I understand with the American goals.”

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As JD Vance Visits, Ohioans Are Slamming Republicans For Their Support Of Trump Admin’s Economic Policies

“In a critical midterm election year, Republicans can’t run from the harm that their agenda is causing for hardworking Ohioans”

COLUMBUS, OH – As Vice President JD Vance heads to Ohio today, Ohioans are slamming Ohio Republicans for supporting the Trump Administration’s devastating economic policies – and “Republicans are struggling up and down the ballot in the Rust Belt state.” At a time when Ohio “has become one of the GOP’s biggest headaches for the midterms,” “Republicans now say they’ll spend tens of millions of dollars in Ohio races they once were heavily favored to win this fall.”

“Trump and Washington Republicans’ economic policies are devastating Ohio families — and Ohioans are calling out Ohio Republicans up and down the ballot for raising their costs with reckless tariffs and a dangerous war with Iran and ripping away their healthcare so special interests and billionaires can get richer,”said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “While JD Vance emphasizes just how out-of-touch Washington Republicans are with their deeply unpopular economic agenda, Ohioans of all political backgrounds are supporting Ohio Democrats who will lower costs, take on Republican corruption, and get our state and country back on track.”

Recent analysis emphasized that thanks to Donald Trump’s disastrous economic policies, his political problems could have “metastasized and spread to infect Republican candidates on the November ballot in swing states and districts.” Cook Political Report last week moved OH10 and OH15 races towards Democrats, while all three major nonpartisan race raters — Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball — shifted the OH07 congressional race in Democrat Brian Poindexter’s direction to “Toss-Up” in a span of less than 24 hours.

Read more about how Ohioans are calling out Ohio Republicans for their support of Trump, JD Vance, and Washington Republicans’ devastating economic agenda:

Akron Beacon Journal: Republicans can’t run from the harm their agenda is causing | Letter

  • No matter where you live in our state, the reality is crystal clear that Republican policies from Washington to Columbus are raising costs for families and hurting our communities. Democrats across the country are seeing wins not only in blue areas, but purple and even red areas too because Americans are tired of Washington only working for billionaires and corporate special interests and hurting everyone else.
  • In a critical midterm election year, Republicans can’t run from the harm that their agenda is causing for hardworking Ohioans, like their tariffs that have raised the price of goods and threatened small businesses’ ability to keep their doors open, or their reckless war with Iran that has sky-rocketed gas prices, or their health care cuts that are ripping health care away from Americans and putting local hospitals at risk.

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohioans criticize Ohio US Rep. Mike Carey for cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and education

  • Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey’s constituents are speaking out against Congress’s cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and education. 
  • “We’re here today to demand that Rep. Carey chose priorities that put people first,” said Kate Terenzi with the Center for Popular Democracy. 
  • More than 100,000 Ohioans — including more than 50,000 children — have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made the largest cuts to food stamps in the history of the program. 
  • Carey voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and represents Ohio’s 15th Congressional district.
  • Carey’s office did not respond to a request for comment by the Ohio Capital Journal. 
  • In Ohio’s 15th district, 220,200 residents rely on Medicaid, 12% of households receive SNAP, an estimated 33,000 people could lose health coverage by 2034, and $40.4 million in special education funding is at risk, according to event organizers.

Journal-News: OPINION: Ohioans foot the bill for Mike Turner’s mess

  • While Turner and politicians in Washington celebrate paper promises, working people in Ohio are paying the actual invoice. My husband, a proud union plumber, wants nothing more than to finally retire after decades of intense physical labor. Instead, we are trapped on a financial treadmill.
  • While I retired five years ago from teaching, I’ve had to go back to work, picking up two part-time roles, one at a nonprofit and another consulting. Math isn’t my forte, but two part-time jobs equal working full time once again in retirement. We do what we do to keep our heads above water financially.
  • Fueled by the president’s reckless tariffs, the everyday costs of survival were high before the president decided to start a war in Iran, but now they are even worse. We’ve shelled out an additional $300 more for gas since the war began and prices at the grocery are going up at an increasing clip. I recently opened our electric bill from AES and was left speechless seeing that the invoice was for $1,000.
  • When Turner looks at this geopolitical landscape and sees a “significant accomplishment,” he reveals how profoundly disconnected he and his colleagues in Washington have become from the painful realities confronting families across southwest Ohio.
  • For our community, the fallout hasn’t been an abstract policy debate; it has meant dramatic, punishing costs at the gas pump and at the supermarket checkout counter.
     

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Vivek Ramaswamy’s Social Security Privatization Scam Would “Leave Ohioans With Less Retirement Income and Increased Healthcare Costs”

Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from The Ohio Independent details how Vivek Ramaswamy wants to privatize Social Security and “leave Ohioans with less retirement income and increased healthcare costs.” Ramaswamy has called Medicare and Medicaid “mistakes.” His hostility toward these foundational programs would be dangerous for the millions of Ohioans who rely on Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare to make ends meet.

“Ohioans are working harder than ever to keep up with rising costs, but Vivek Ramaswamy says privatizing Social Security is ‘a reasonable conversation to have’ which would gut retirement income and increase healthcare costs for working families; he can’t promise their Social Security is safe for when they retire,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ramaswamy wants to gamble with our Social Security to line his own pockets. He isn’t just out of touch; he’s clearly only out for himself.”  

READ: Vivek Ramaswamy backed Social Security privatization

  • Vivek Ramaswamy is running for Ohio governor on a plan to “put more money in your pocket and give your kids a world-class education.” His proposed changes to entitlement programs, however, might leave Ohioans with less retirement income and increased healthcare costs.
  • During his unsuccessful presidential campaign, Ramaswamy said he favored privatizing Social Security, replacing it with a system that would allow the government or individuals to invest retirement funds in stocks and bonds.  
  • One such reform he brought up during a New Hampshire town hall event in August 2023 was investing Social Security funds. “If we had just allowed that money to be invested by Social Security in the same way that your financial advisor would recommend that you invest your money, in a diversified portfolio, we would be swimming in surplus today,” he said.
  • Ramaswamy made similar comments in February 2024 interview with AARP, telling the nonprofit group, “I think we have to be honest about learning from a prior mistake: 20 years ago we should have allowed people to actually invest their Social Security money or the government to invest Social Security money in the same way that we would have allowed any private citizen to do in the stock market and in bonds and otherwise.” 
  • Experts say investing Social Security money in the stock market could leave future beneficiaries with much less money in retirement if the investments go downhill or the stock market crashes. Instead of a fixed monthly payment, benefits would depend on whether the investments gain or lose value.
  • In an October 2024 interview on the “Ezra Klein Show,” Ramaswamy was asked whether Medicare and Medicaid were mistakes. “I believe they were, with the benefit of retrospect, particularly Medicaid, particularly the welfare state, without work attachments required attached to it,” he replied. “What I think of as the welfare state, my principal issue with it is that it actually, I think the evidence would show, in my opinion, that it has harmed the very people that it was created to actually help.”
  • More than 2 million Ohioans receive Social Security benefits, about 2.5 million get health insurance through Medicare, and another 3 million are covered by Ohio Medicaid. An estimated 65,000 of those Medicaid subscribers are veterans and 44% of Ohio’s kids are covered by the program.

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Ohio Families Face Record Gas Prices Thanks To Jon Husted-Backed War

WHIO: ‘It rose so fast;’ August gas prices reach record highs in Ohio as crude oil costs climb

COLUMBUS, OHIO — New reporting shows Ohioans continue to see record gas prices — all thanks to the endless war in Iran that Jon Husted has continuously voted to support. The average price of gas has hit $4.17 in Ohio, which is up 20 cents from last week. 

Jon Husted recently voted for the thirteenth time to support the unnecessary war in the Middle East. Husted previously claimed that the war is going “much better than anyone thought it would,” and when asked about skyrocketing gas prices Ohioans are facing, Husted responded “what do you want me to do?” 

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

“As Ohioans continue to face skyrocketing prices at the gas pump, Jon Husted has repeatedly voted to support the war in Iran, sending more money overseas while Ohioans pay the price. Instead of voting to lower costs at home, Husted continues to insult and lecture hardworking families on their work ethic.” 

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

  • When asked recently 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. 

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