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NEW: Jon Husted Doesn’t Think There Is an Affordability Crisis in Ohio

Columbus, Ohio — Today, Jon Husted claimed that the affordability crisis only exists in “blue states” and not in Ohio — ignoring the harsh reality for Ohioans that are paying more thanks to Husted’s affordability crisis.

Husted’s reckless tariffs are driving up prices across the board, while his votes on health care are sending premiums soaring for more than half a million Ohioans. As energy and grocery bills rise, Husted refuses to acknowledge the crisis he helped create.

WATCH: 

Transcript: 

Jon Husted: Remember, the affordability crisis is the worst in blue states, in blue cities and in Republican states, you know, we’ve done things like in Ohio, we embraced fracking and oil extraction and lowering energy costs. 

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

“Jon Husted may not think there is an affordability crisis, but Ohio families living with higher grocery bills, higher health care premiums, and higher energy bills would beg to differ. Husted can pretend that this crisis doesn’t exist, but Ohioans are paying the price for his votes every day.” 

Read more about Jon Husted’s Affordability Crisis: 

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ICYMI: Ramaswamy Slammed for “Embarrassing” Policy So Bad His Supporters Searched for “Nonsensical Explanations” 

Columbus, Ohio- In case you missed it, the Ironton Tribune editorial board slammed Vivek Ramaswamy’s botched education policy rollout where he revealed a policy so bad his own supporters thought it was AI. Even Republicans know Ramaswamy has the wrong idea for Ohio.

See for yourself: 

  • Last week, the campaign of Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton posted a seven-second clip of her rival, Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to her social media feeds. 
  • The clip featured Ramaswamy making a pitch to do away with summer break for students, making schools go year round and extend the length of the school day in the state.  
  • Setting aside the fact that year-round school has been proven to costs states more, due to increased expenses, such as utilities, wear and tear on buildings, as well as more staffing and administrative costs, looking at schools as a way to provide cheap or “free” babysitters shows Ramaswamy may have his priorities wrong when it comes to educational policy.  […]
  •  So it came as no surprise that the idea was deeply unpopular with many, even in Ramaswamy’s own party.  
  • Conservative commentator Meghan McCain described it “an absolutely insane idea” and said it was “completely removing the importance of family bonding time and anything non-academic related.”  
  • Rather than defend Ramaswamy’s policy idea, some Republicans and conservatives instead tried a different approach – concocting an elaborate, ludicrous conspiracy theory to try to clear away Ramaswamy’s ill-received idea.  
  • And Ramaswamy’s campaign eventually admitted, to the Columbus Dispatch, that the video, which they had deleted, was, in fact, a legitimate recording of their candidate.
  • Ramaswamy’s campaign owes Ohioans a better explanation here. Simply erasing the video, after their allies tried to claim it was fake, and hoping the matter vanishes down the memory hole is not sufficient.  
  • This entire display has been pure amateur hour – whether it is the nonsensical claims of fringe media figures Ramaswamy allies with or the campaign’s garbled explanation of the video and lack of clarification of his position, whatever that may be.  

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ICYMI: Ohioans Struggle With Higher Costs Under Jon Husted

Columbus, Ohio — Whether it’s groceries, food, or health care, Ohioans are paying more thanks to Jon Husted’s affordability crisis. 

Husted’s reckless tariffs are driving up prices across the board, and his votes on health care are sending premiums soaring. Instead of fighting to lower costs, Husted has doubled down, saying that critics “are wrong” about the tariffs, they “haven’t affected the economy negatively,” and “the policies are working.”

See For Yourself:

Kent Stater: Tariffs hit local businesses in Northeast Ohio

  • Local manufacturers and business owners are feeling the trickle-down impact on many key products they import. 
  • “It’s a lot of extra things now that I have to do to make up for not being able to get the other things,” local artist and dice maker, Faith Burns, said.
  • “The lack of stability this year, the chaos at the federal government level, has made it tough for companies to know where they’re going next, what income they’re going to have,” John Kelly, the director of business development at the Tuscarawas County Economic Development Corporation, said.
  • At a local Kent coffee shop, sourcing coffee beans is driving up their costs, meaning they are passing a 5% fee on bags of coffee onto their customers. 

Axios: Tariffs are shaking up Ohio manufacturing

  • Driving the news: One-third of Ohio manufacturers say tariffs have already affected their sales, according to the report.
  • By the numbers: Two in five surveyed say rising raw material costs are hindering growth.
  • Cases of “significant” cost pressure jumped from 7.7% in 2023 to 10.9% in 2025.
  • 30% say political uncertainty is slowing growth, the highest level since tracking began in 2018.

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NEW REPORTING: Health Care Costs Soar Thanks to Jon Husted’s Health Care Crisis

“For one Ohio woman, monthly premiums have skyrocketed to $1,700 a month”

Columbus, Ohio — New reporting shows how devastating Jon Husted’s health care crisis has become for Ohio families. More than half a million Ohioans are bracing for massive premium hikes, with one woman’s bill increasing to $1,700 a month.

Despite this, Husted voted eight times against lowering health care costs and continues to attack the ACA tax credits that Ohioans rely on, claiming they are “not the way to go about it.”

Read more about Jon Husted’s health care crisis:

Scripps News: How eliminating government subsidies could impact those who rely on the Affordable Care Act

  • We first heard from Griffith about a month ago, when she thought her ACA premiums would go from $240/month to $1,200/month. However, after looking into it further, she said it’s closer to $1,700/month.
  • “Health care should never be a political issue,” said Griffith. “It should be affordable. People in this country need health care. If you don’t have it, you go bankrupt.”
  • Griffith said she retired a bit early to take care of her mom. She said that if the proposed ACA government subsidies are cut, they’ll have to find the money somewhere else.
  • “We’ll have to go into savings. We’ll have to look at retirement accounts,” said Griffith.
  • For Griffith, she said the lower-cost ACA plan has been a lifeline for her and so many others that Congress has to figure out soon.

WHIO: Millions of Ohioans worried about possible increase in ACA subsidies

  • About 24 million Americans get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, over 90 percent currently receive some tax credit, which helps keep those premiums down. They are scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
  • For Joe Stamps, owner of Stamps of Approval Hair Studio, that means a premium of around $500 a month.
  • Emma Wager is a senior analyst for the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). Her group estimates that the average person who buys insurance through the ACA market will see their premiums more than double in the New Year.
  • A 60-year-old couple will see their plan skyrocket by over 250 percent or around $1,500 per month for the plan, according to KFF.
  • Stamps is one of 4 million people that KFF estimates will go without full insurance if the tax credits expire.
  • “That’s just really one day at a time, trusting God to take care of me, because the system does not seem to work for you, but they will use you to make money from you,” he said. “So, it’s just one of those things.”

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ICYMI: Vivek Ramaswamy Slammed for “Insane,” Video “So Dumb, his Fans Think it’s AI”

Mediaite: ‘ENOUGH’: Meghan McCain Outraged at Vivek Ramaswamy’s Deleted Plan for Year-Round School

“Republican commentator Meghan McCain branded Vivek Ramaswamy’s (R) plan to keep kids in school year-round as “absolutely insane.””

“McCain then eviscerated the idea.

“This is an absolutely insane idea – completely removing the importance of family bonding time and anything non academic related.”

The New Republic: Dem Shares Vivek Ramaswamy Video So Dumb, His Fans Think It’s AI

“MAGA Republicans accused a Democrat running against Vivek Ramawamy for Ohio governor of posting an AI-generated video of the DOGE czar-for-a-day pitching a truly terrible policy idea. Too bad for them, because the video was actually real.”

“That proposal was so blatantly bad that Republicans immediately started to accuse Acton of sharing a fake video. Far-right commentator Tim Pool claimed on his show Tuesday that the video Acton shared was AI and that the audio had been “replaced.””

“It turns out, the only one manipulating the video was Ramaswamy. The full video was originally posted to Ramaswamy’s social media accounts before being removed. Another version of the video was later reposted without the Republican’s plan to extend school hours, according to The Columbus Dispatch.”

Huffington Post: Vivek Ramaswamy Pitches Idea So Extreme Supporters Think His Opponent Made AI Video

“Conservatives had an extreme reaction to a video posted by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday ― with many convinced it must be AI.”

“Even worse for Ramaswamy: One of the ideas proposed in the clip was apparently so extreme that people inclined to support his candidacy were convinced the video was a smear made by his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton.”

“Ramaswamy tried to counter the controversy by posting another video in which he accused Democrats like Acton of “distorting my position” on education, but didn’t mention the year-round proposal from the earlier video.”

“This isn’t the first time Ramaswamy’s views about the American education system have come back to bite him….Last December, he was heavily criticized after declaring that “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” and that a “culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”

The Daily Beast: MAGA Insists Real Vivek Ramaswamy Policy Proposal Is AI

“MAGA has tried to excuse a real clip of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy proposing “year-round” school as AI.”

“The video was posted on Monday afternoon and was up for several hours before it was deleted and replaced with a version that removed Ramaswamy’s year-round school proposal. He did, however, leave the original up on his Threads account. It is unclear why Ramaswamy deleted the proposal from his other platforms.”

Yahoo: Fact Check: Gubernatorial Opponent Amy Acton Did NOT Spread A Fake Video Of Vivek Ramaswamy Advocating Year-Round School — He Did Say It

“Did Ohio Democrat Amy Acton spread a fake video of Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy advocating year-round school, as social media posts claim? No, that’s not true:”

The Center Square: Ramaswamy edits video initially proposing year-round school

“Ohio Republican governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is quickly backing away from an idea to send children to school year-round and extend the school day.”

“Republicans initially claimed that Acton’s camp created the video using deepfake AI, but the campaign confirmed to the Columbus Dispatch that the video was real.”

“The video did not include any discussion of increased taxpayer costs for year-round schools or an extended school day.”

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