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

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO — Today, Ohioans in Youngstown gathered for the third 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.

“Let me be clear: Ohioans don’t need a lecture on how to buy groceries. They need relief from the rising cost of groceries. They don’t need to be told affordability is just a ‘buzzword.’ They are living it every single day,” said State Representative Lauren McNally. “Politicians in DC like Jon Husted keep voting to make things more expensive. We have a responsibility to do something about it and fight back.”

“Jon Husted’s comments about the ‘real world’ ignore the reality that Ohioans are facing, where wages haven’t kept pace with inflation — making us work harder just to stay afloat. Jon Husted has spent all his time in DC voting to make things more expensive for families like mine,” said Dani Boatner, a Youngstown resident and working parent. “My 12-year old easily recognizes that almost $4/gallon for gasoline is quite ridiculous & this doesn’t even scratch the surface of our day to day expenses that are seen as basic human needs.”

“Affordability is not a talking point. It is one of the most pressing concerns in our community. Families are dealing with rising grocery bills, higher utility costs, increasing rent and housing prices and the overall cost of simply getting by,” said Mayor of Struthers Catherine Cercone Miller.

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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.” 

• Indicted FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones said Husted was a “good friend of FirstEnergy” who was “highly engaged” and “fighting to the end” in support of the massive bail out.

• 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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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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