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Husted: “People living in poverty are just not very, they’re not very experienced at navigating the real world”

Toledo Mayor: “Those aren’t the comments of someone who is in touch with what Americans are going through right now”

TOLEDO, OHIO — Last week, Ohioans in Toledo gathered for the second stop of Husted’s Real World Tour, calling out Jon Husted for his out of touch attacks on hardworking families. 

Ohioans are already struggling with high grocery and utility prices, and the skyrocketing cost of gas is forcing families to cut back even more. Instead of working to lower costs, Jon Husted has insulted struggling Ohioans as “not very experienced at navigating the real world” and dismissed the mounting affordability crisis by telling Ohioans to fix their “work ethic” and to simply “earn more” money to make ends meet.

See For Yourself: 

WTOL 11: Toledo Democrats criticize Sen. Husted for comments on affordability

• WTOL Anchor: Democratic leaders are calling out Ohio Senator Jon Husted after comments he recently made. Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz and Council President Vanice Williams, along with other Democrats, held a press conference outside of Husted’s office to highlight his comments on people struggling to afford necessities. Husted said that ‘struggling Ohioans are not very experienced at navigating the real world.’

• Councilwoman Vanice Williams: I represent district four of the most poverty stricken districts in this great city. Come visit us, and come see the real world, and not on MTV. 

• WTOL Anchor: We reached out to Senator Husted’s office for comment but have not heard back yet.
  

13 ABC Toledo: Local Democrats Blast Sen. Husted as ‘Out of Touch’

• 13 ABC Anchor: Local Democrats are calling out Senator Jon Husted tonight, framing him as being out of touch with working Ohioans. They are zeroing in on comments he made in a March podcast when Husted described a young woman who had said she didn’t know how money works at a grocery store because she’d always used SNAP. Husted said ‘people living in poverty are just not very experienced at navigating the real world.’

• Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz: People are worried about the high cost of everything, high cost of a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, gasoline, everything is going up and people are worried. So when Senator Husted said that the problem wasn’t with affordability, the problem was that ‘too many Ohioans don’t know how to navigate the real world,’ that was offensive. I think that’s offensive to hardworking Ohioans. 

Toledo Blade: Local Democrats lean into claims Husted is out of touch with ‘real world’

• Ohio Democrats on Friday brought their “real world” tour chiding U.S. Sen. Jon Husted for recent podcast remarks to Toledo, where local leaders echoed accusations that the Ohio Republican is out of touch with working people’s struggle to make ends meet.

• “You didn’t have to navigate through poverty, so you don’t know what the real world is,” Vanice Williams, president of Toledo City Council, said during a noontime news conference at the party’s Lucas County headquarters downtown.

• Ms. Williams “challenged” Mr. Husted to go with her on a tour of “the real world,” while Tracci Johnson, executive director of the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center, “challenged” him to address exorbitant health-care costs that force lower-income people “to choose between food and medicine.”

• At issue is a remark Senator Husted made March 10 while appearing on a conservative podcast, during which he alluded to a conversation with a “young lady” who professed not knowing “how money works at a grocery store” because she has always used SNAP cards to obtain food.

• “People living in poverty are just not very, um, experienced at navigating the real world, right?” he said. “You literally have to teach people how to budget … the buzzword today, let’s face it, is ‘affordability.’”

• Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz used that precise word addressing the Democrats’ news conference, saying working-class Ohioans are “worried about the high cost of everything — a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, gasoline.”

• And the Senator’s suggestion that the solution is for people to find higher-paying jobs to climb out of their economic holes only dug his own hole deeper, the mayor said. 

• “Those aren’t the comments of someone who is in touch with what Americans are going through right now,” he said.

• Mr. Husted’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

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Husted: “People living in poverty are just not very, they’re not very experienced at navigating the real world”

TOLEDO, OHIO — Today, Ohioans in Toledo gathered for the second stop of Husted’s Real World Tour, calling out Jon Husted for his out of touch attacks on hardworking families. 

Ohioans are already struggling with high grocery and utility prices, and the skyrocketing cost of gas is forcing families to cut back even more. Instead of working to lower costs, Jon Husted has insulted struggling Ohioans as “not very experienced at navigating the real world” and dismissed the mounting affordability crisis by telling Ohioans to fix their “work ethic” and to simply “earn more” money to make ends meet.

“Folks who live in the real world are having a hard time paying for gas, paying for groceries, paying for health care, paying for life. That’s the reality of what’s happening in America. Our constituents live in reality, they are not having a hard time navigating reality, they are living in reality, unlike Senator Husted’s donors who hang out on Epstein Island,” said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. “Unlike Senator Husted who is at the center of the largest corruption scandal in the history of the state of Ohio, a $61 million FirstEnergy corruption scandal. That’s his reality.”

“I challenge Senator Husted to come to Toledo, come walk with me and let’s go see the real world. I have never met Senator Husted. I represent District 4, one of the most poverty stricken districts in this great city. Come visit us, and come see the real world,” said Toledo City Council President Vanice Williams. “It bothers me when I heard his statements because I am one that navigated through poverty. I own a childcare center where I have parents every day navigating through poverty. I was a high school principal where I saw families navigating through poverty. The real world didn’t come from Upper Arlington, the real world comes from Toledo, Ohio, who lived in Section 8, she’s standing in front of you, I’m the real world.”

“The Affordable Care Act tax credits have been a lifeline for me. They allowed me to take a job without health insurance, knowing I could afford coverage on the marketplace. Now, because Jon Husted refused to act, my health care costs have doubled. If there is anyone that doesn’t understand the real world, it’s Jon Husted,” said Tracci Johnson, a Toledo native.

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Husted’s price hikes to only get worse, with Amazon announcing 3.5% fuel surcharge fee

COLUMBUS, OHIO — As Jon Husted continues to recklessly back the war in Iran, gas and diesel prices are soaring for Ohio families. Ohioans are already struggling with high food and grocery prices, and the surging energy costs are forcing families to cut back even more.

With the war raging on, Husted’s price hikes will only get worse. Amazon has already announced a 3.5% fuel surcharge due to surging energy costs, while FedEx, JetBlue, United, and UPS have also raised prices. Even the Postal Service has announced its first-ever fuel surcharge of 8%.

Jon Husted has voted three times to support the war, even as the Pentagon reportedly seeks more than $200 billion to continue the conflict. Instead of working to lower costs at home, Husted has insulted struggling Ohioans as “not very experienced at navigating the real world” and dismissed the mounting affordability crisis by telling Ohioans to fix their “work ethic” and to simply “earn more” money to make ends meet.

See for yourself: 

Cleveland 19 News: Ohio gas prices rising as drivers cut back, get creative to stretch dollars

• With gas prices topping four dollars a gallon around the country, Ohio drivers are already cutting back and getting creative to stretch every dollar at the pump. 

• Kelly Thompkins said the rising costs are forcing difficult decisions.

• “We have to debate are we going to have a steak dinner tonight, or are we going to fill up and go to work?” Thompkins said. “And you have to go to work, you know, but these prices are getting ridiculous, because 10 or 20 dollars won’t even get you half a tank.”

• The average price in Ohio is $3.79 a gallon. Diesel drivers are paying even more, with the nationwide diesel average at $5.45.

• Derek Manley and his wife now share their most fuel-efficient car to keep costs down.

• “If she is off I’ll take her car, we try to keep it down to one car, so we’re working it out but it’s still hard with the prices,” Manley said.

News 5 Cleveland: ‘It’s absurd.’ Uber and Lyft drivers get creative amidst surging gas prices

• If you feel like you’re paying more at the pump lately, you’re not alone. According to AAA, gas prices across Ohio are sitting at nearly $4 per gallon for regular unleaded.

• The prices are putting pressure on drivers across Northeast Ohio—especially those who rely on their cars to make a living.

• To stretch their dollars and save on gas, some drivers told News 5’s Mike Holden they are turning their cars off completely while waiting in the queue for rides.

• “I wanna have my heat on in here, but I can’t! You can’t waste the gas, so I’m layered up,” John, a local ride-share driver, said.

• Regardless, he says the state of the economy and rising prices are not helping matters.

• “It’s pretty much killing us. You fill up two or three times a day and it just keeps adding up,” John said.

NBC 4 Columbus: How Columbus is dealing with high gas prices

• As gas prices near $4 per gallon in central Ohio, everyone is figuring out how to fit the extra cost into their budgets, including the City of Columbus.

• The city said the fuel budget for fiscal year 2026 is $5.5 million, with the majority of the budget — $4 million — allocated to the division of police for fuel.

• “I mean, we’re going to have to do everything we can to try to control and contain costs in other places,” Ginther said. “Work smarter, work harder, be more efficient, because fuel prices don’t look like they’re coming down anytime soon.”

News 5 Cleveland: Ohio farmers face steeper prices as diesel and fertilizers soar as a result of the military conflict in Iran

• Farmers around Ohio are half a world away from the military conflict in Iran, but what’s playing out there is having a direct impact on their ability to grow crops here, as they feel the same pain at the pump, if not worse than what drivers are seeing.

• During the spring planting season, Sayre said he’ll burn through about 10,000 gallons. “That 10,000 gallons is an extra $20,000 for us to plant our crops this spring, and we’re a small farm.”

• Diesel is just part of the impact. The other is fertilizer; a lot of the world’s key fertilizer ingredients that end up in Ohio fields originate in the Persian Gulf and flow through the Strait of Hormuz.

• “Fertilizer follows fuel, and it also follows world politics, so when we upset other nations, they get upset, the prices go up,” Sayre said, with some nitrogen products up 40-70%. “So to plant our corn, it’s twice as expensive now to plant corn.”

• Portage County Dairy Farmer Jared Phillip feels it as well, “Between fertilizer and fuel, it’s going to put people in the negative real quick.”

• “We still have the same input costs, and we still have the same feed costs to feed those cattle. Whether the price goes up or down, it is going to be a huge impact with the price of fuel and fertilizer this year.”

• It comes at a time when farmers are struggling to at most to break even on the crops they plant.

• “Nationally, we have 15,000 fewer farms than we did in 2024. When it comes to farm bankruptcies, they increased 46 percent in 2025,” Bales said. “This is just going to be another added difficulty.”

Fox 8 Cleveland: Could gas price increase impact summer travel? AAA weighs in

• Gas prices are soaring. If the price hike persists, it could mean more expensive airline tickets or higher costs for a planned road trip.

• The price at the pump has jumped roughly $1 in the last month, now sitting at or above $4 per gallon on average nationwide — a byproduct of the war in Iran.

• The price of jet fuel is also skyrocketing. Jet fuel has nearly doubled, from $2.50 per gallon to $4.62, according to the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index.

• That could mean more expensive airfare and potentially fewer flights. Airlines like United have already publicly discussed cutting flights during nonpeak times.

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