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VIVEK ON THE LAKE: Ramaswamy Discovers Ohio’s “Hidden Gem” After Almost a Full Year on the Campaign Trail

Columbus, Ohio-  After months of flying around Ohio on his private jet, Vivek Ramaswamy finally made a trip to the shores of Lake Erie and discovered the “hidden gem” that is larger than the state of New Jersey. Ramaswamy has clearly been spending too much time in backrooms with fellow Columbus billionaires, and it’s about time he finally discovered Ohio’s coastal counties exist.

Ramaswamy didn’t just discover that Ohio is home to sandy beaches and some of the world’s best roller coasters. He also learned about a $3 billion tourism economy that supports more than 130,000 jobs for Ohioans. 

“It’s no Puerto Rico with the Paul brothers, but Ohio is home to the best beaches in the midwest. Ramaswamy has clearly been spending too much time in backrooms with fellow billionaires calling Medicaid and Medicare a mistake, but it’s about time he finally discovered Ohio’s coastal counties,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Turns out there’s a lot that Ramaswamy missed while on his private jet. Maybe next he’ll take a trip to Dayton and learn about how Ohio was first in flight!” 

What They’re Saying: 

  • Calling Lake Erie and its economy “hidden” is quite the tell. 4/8/2026
  • Amy’s in Cleveland Heights! Standing room only! Oh. She got you on Lake Erie. Vivek? Not so much. 4/7/2026
  • Nothing ‘hidden’ about our billions $$ economy. Home to great cities, great industries and great sport fishing. 11 million get their drinking water from our Great Lake. Spend some time up here. I’ll take you walleye fishing. We can eat a terrific sandwich with @TwinOast beer.  4/8/2026

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HUSTED TRIAL TRACKER: Husted Likely to Testify in Defense of  FirstEnergy in Criminal Corruption Retrial in September

Jon Husted at the center of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history

Ohio families paying $663 more a year on utility bills thanks to Husted’s corruption

COLUMBUS, OHIO — In a major new development, Jon Husted’s FirstEnergy nightmare is far from over, as he will likely be forced to take the stand again to defend his corrupt donors in the new criminal corruption trial set to start September 28, 2026.

Husted helped his donors escape accountability by testifying for the defense and trying to protect the corrupt FirstEnergy executives responsible for the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history. But scrutiny around Husted’s central involvement in the bribery scandal is not ending anytime soon as prosecutors prepare to retry the case.

Throughout the first criminal trial, Husted was mentioned 386 times as testimony made clear that he was at the center of the massive bribery scheme that delivered a billion dollar bailout to utilities and contributed to electricity costs for Ohioans increasing by $663 a year. When Husted was forced to answer questions under oath, his testimony only raised more questions about his own role in the scandal.

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

“Jon Husted may have helped his corrupt FirstEnergy donors escape accountability for now, but September 28 is quickly approaching. This retrial will put the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history back in the spotlight, and remind Ohioans that Jon Husted was at the center of the scheme that sold them out to a big utility company and stuck them with skyrocketing energy bills.”

As a reminder, Jon Husted played a central role “running the show” in the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history alongside Dowling and Jones:

  • New evidence during the trial revealed nine calls between Jon Husted and Mike Dowling in the months preceding a $4.3 million bribe to former Utilities Commission Chair Sam Randazzo. 
  • New reporting revealed Jon Husted held secret meetings with Dowling and Jones, including with the “mastermind of Ohio’s largest public corruption scheme two days before scandal-ridden bribery legislation was introduced.”
  • Neil Clark, a FirstEnergy lobbyist and co-defendant with former House Speaker Larry Householder, referred to Husted as FirstEnergy’s “golden boy.”
  • Text messages between Husted, Dowling, and Jones reveal that the trio were in constant communication “before, during and after his campaign.” 
  • A dinner between Jon Husted and the indicted FirstEnergy executives at the Athletic Club of Columbus was a focal point of the criminal trial.
  • Public records show that FirstEnergy — led by Jones and Dowling — funneled $1 million in dark money to a dark money group backing Husted in 2017, part of the same corrupt scheme that led to federal and state indictments.

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ICYMI: Toledoans Call Out Jon Husted’s Out of Touch Attacks on Hardworking Families

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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Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde Issues Statement As Early Voting Begins in Ohio May Primary Elections

COLUMBUS, OHIO – As Ohioans begin heading to the polls – and the state begins sending out mail-in ballots – for the May 5 primary election, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde issued the following statement encouraging Ohioans to make their voice heard in this election:

“The stakes couldn’t be higher in this election for Ohioans’ pocketbooks, freedoms, and futures. At a time when dangerous attacks on the right to vote attempt to silence the will of the people and allow Republicans in power to escape accountability, it’s more important than ever that Ohioans get out to vote – a right that The Ohio Democratic Party will fight to protect. While Ohio Republicans in every corner of our state and in Washington are championing an agenda that is raising costs, ripping away healthcare, and defunding our public schools, Ohio Democrats are focused on the commonsense solutions to the issues that matter most to Ohioans, like tackling the sky-high costs that keep families across our state up at night – and that contrast will be crystal clear on Election Day.”

Ohioans looking to learn more about how to cast their ballot in the May 5 primary election, should visit the Ohio Secretary of State’s website: https://www.ohiosos.gov/elections.

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Ohioans Call Out Jon Husted’s Out of Touch Attacks on Hardworking Families

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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