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On Election Day, Here’s What Ohioans Need to Know About Jon Husted

COLUMBUS, OHIO — As Ohioans head to the polls today, Ohio Democratic Party Senior Communications Advisor Tony Wen released the following statement on Senator Jon Husted: 

“As voters head to the polls today, one thing is clear: Jon Husted is screwing over Ohioans by putting billionaires and corporations before lowering costs. Jon Husted is part of the corrupt system that lets politicians enrich themselves while life gets more expensive for working people, and he keeps insulting struggling Ohioans by telling them to just work harder. Voters will send Jon Husted packing in November.” 

Here’s what to know about Jon Husted: 

Jon Husted’s loyalties lie with powerful insiders like Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators, not regular Ohioans. 

  • Husted voted against releasing the Epstein files to protect one of Jeffrey Epstein’s closest friends and co-conspirators. 
  • He has taken over $116,000 from the Epstein co-conspirator, 10 times more than any other sitting Senator in America. 
  • Husted even accepted the maximum contribution from him last year, and just weeks later voted to cover up the files.
  • Husted’s association with pedophiles and predators doesn’t stop there. His campaign has proudly touted the endorsement of State Representative Rodney Creech, who has been accused of sexual misconduct involving a minor relative.
  • Husted’s Sandusky County co-chair has also come under fire reminiscing on video about talking to young girls about sex during Ohio House testimony.

Jon Husted helps corporations and billionaires, even when it hurts Ohioans. 

  • Husted is part of the rigged system that allows corrupt politicians to enrich themselves and helps billionaire elites, all while hardworking Ohioans get screwed. 
  • In the Senate, Husted has voted 9 times to increase health care premiums on Ohio families. Because of Husted’s votes, hundreds of thousands of Ohio families will see their health care costs rise over $800 a year for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans.
  • Husted also was the deciding vote to cut health care to raise health care costs to help pay for the largest tax cut for billionaires in history, claiming “he loves doing that kind of stuff.”
  • Husted has voted six times to support another endless war in the Middle East, sending energy prices skyrocketing and crushing Ohio farmers and families. He claimed recently that the war was going “much better” than expected and that Ohioans will eventually need to “do more work.”

Jon Husted was at the center of the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history that sent electric bills skyrocketing. 

  • Husted sold Ohioans out to pass a billion dollar bailout for utilities that contributed to electric bills skyrocketing more than $600 annually.
  • The utility company’s executives were indicted for spending $61 million on political bribes, and spent millions more to elect Husted.

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ICYMI: While OH09 GOP Candidates Face “Uphill Task,” Marcy Kaptur Is “A Force To Be Reckoned With In Congress”

COLUMBUS, OH – While the GOP primary for OH09 has been marked with brutal infighting, scandals, and a focus on anything but the issues that matter most to Ohio families, those aren’t the only challenges that Republicans’ eventual winner will be facing. As described by the Toledo Blade’s Editorial Board, “whoever wins the GOP nomination is going to have an uphill task explaining to voters in November how northwest Ohio would be better off under two more years of unchallenged Trump policies.”

On the other hand, Ohioans know that they have a fighter in Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who is “a force to be reckoned with in Congress,” and is focused on supporting Ohio families in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District: “unlike ideological extremists in Congress, Ms. Kaptur sticks to what matters to average Ohioans — jobs, national security, protecting our rights.”

Read more: Toledo Blade: Editorial: 9th District decision

[…]

Whoever wins the GOP nomination is going to have an uphill task explaining to voters in November how northwest Ohio would be better off under two more years of unchallenged Trump policies. The alternative would be a Congress with at least one House providing checks and balances on the President. That will not happen with Republicans still in the majority. Ms. Kaptur has represented the 9th District diligently for almost 44 years.

As shown by the money awarded to northwest Ohio in a partnership with the University of Michigan to promote nuclear engineering education, Ms. Kaptur is still a force to be reckoned with in Congress. Unlike ideological extremists in Congress, Ms. Kaptur sticks to what matters to average Ohioans — jobs, national security, protecting our rights.

Will MAGA Republicans put the interests of the 9th District at the forefront? MAGA Republican officeholders pay lip service to Trump’s lie about the 2020 election being stolen and stand by silently while Trump abuses lawful restrictions on the power of the President.

On Tuesday, Republicans get to choose which of the five will be their MAGA warrior.

In November, the voters get to decide whether MAGA has really made northwest Ohio great again.

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ICYMI: Ramaswamy’s Scam Proposals Would Cause “Significant Hikes” to Taxes and “Major Cuts to Government Services” 

Columbus, Ohio – On Saturday, an analysis by The Plain Dealer found that Vivek Ramaswamy’s dangerous plans to eliminate the state income tax, cancel the capital gains tax, and abolish property taxes would “involve significant hikes to other taxes” and “major cuts to government services.” 

Ramaswamy’s scam proposals would raise costs on working families already struggling to make ends meet and have a “far more dramatic effect on government finances” Republican Governor Mike DeWine called it “absolutely devastating.”  

READ: Vivek Ramaswamy vows bold tax cuts if elected Ohio governor; How would he pay for them?

  • So far, the Columbus-area Republican is silent about how he would pay for such moves – which, if implemented, would likely involve significant hikes to other taxes and/or major cuts to government services.
  • …Ramaswamy’s campaign platform, if passed, would have a far more dramatic effect on government finances than what Acton has put forward so far, an analysis by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer found.
  • One of the cornerstones of Ramaswamy’s campaign platform is a vow to phase out Ohio’s state income tax completely over an unspecified number of years.
  • But the state’s income tax has brought in roughly $10 billion per year over the past five years. That’s about a third of Ohio’s total annual state tax revenue.
  • Filling a state budget hole of around $10 billion per year would require substantially raising other state taxes (such as the sales tax or commercial activity tax), making substantial cuts to state government spending (such as Medicaid, education, and other core public services) or some combination of the two.
  • Critics of ending Ohio’s income tax have pointed to what happened in Kansas more than a decade ago, when major tax cuts – passed by Republicans amid promises that the economic growth they would create would cover their cost – led to a state budget crisis.
  • Ramaswamy… favors effectively eliminating the 20-mill floor, a policy mechanism that often contributes to higher tax bills when property values rise.
  • Property taxes, which are levied by school districts and other local governments around Ohio at varying rates, are the main funding source for the state’s K-12 public schools. Some local levies also raise money for roads, parks, libraries and local governments, among other things.
  • But the more such taxes are cut, the more schools and municipalities would have to slash budgets and/or raise other local taxes.
  • Gov. Mike DeWine has warned that sales tax rates could hit 20% if property taxes are done away with altogether – a move that Ramaswamy initially called for.

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WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING: Gas Prices Hit New Highs Thanks to Jon Husted

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Ohio families and farmers are getting crushed, and Jon Husted is only making things worse. Thanks to the Husted-backed war in Iran, gas prices have hit $5 a gallon at some stations across Ohio and according to AAA, “Ohio currently has some of the highest gas prices in the country.”

This comes as diesel and fertilizer prices have also skyrocketed, putting even more strain on farmers already struggling to stay in business. According to a new survey, “70% of respondents say fertilizer is so expensive that they will not be able to buy all the fertilizer they need.”

Despite the damage, Jon Husted has said the war in the Middle East is going “much better than anyone thought it would” and is “good news for the global economy.” Husted also continues to insult struggling Ohioans as “not very experienced at navigating the real world” and consistently dismisses 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:

News 5 Cleveland: Gas prices hit $5 at some stations in Ohio

  • Drivers are seeing prices at the pump climb again, and at some stations, gas is now topping $5 a gallon.
  • News 5 found prices as high as $5.09 per gallon Thursday at some Northeast Ohio gas stations, up from $4.99 per gallon just one day earlier.
  • According to AAA, Ohio currently has some of the highest gas prices in the country.

Cleveland.com: Ohio farmers hit with rising fertilizer, fuel costs

  • It’s easy to notice the climbing cost of gas, our eyes popping at the nearly $5 per gallon price blaring from roadside signs.
  • And that’s just for our cars. What if you relied on diesel for your livelihood?
  • After tariffs from the Trump administration hurt farmers’ ability to sell their products abroad, they’re now paying more for fuel for their tractors and fertilizer for their crops, thanks to the war in Iran.
  • The costs of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers have increased by about $200 per ton. So farmers may grow crops that require less fertilizer, use different kinds of fertilizer or just make do with smaller yields.

NBC 4 Columbus: Central Ohio gas prices shot up over $1 per gallon last week

  • After several price hikes within a seven-day period, the average cost for a gallon of gasoline is now nearing $5.
  • According to GasBuddy’s survey of 500 stations in and around Columbus, Ohio, gas prices surged by 99 cents per gallon last week, to average out at $4.92 per gallon. Sunday’s current price is now $1.14 per gallon higher than four weeks ago and a whopping $1.71 higher than this time one year ago.
  • A driver with average midsize car and an approximate gas tank size of 15 gallons could pay around $17-to-$25 more to fill up each visit to a gas station than they would have this time one month and one year ago, respectively.

WLWT 5: Gas prices rise to over $5 per gallon in Greater Cincinnati

  • Friday was another rough day for gas prices in the Greater Cincinnati area, with some towns now seeing prices per gallon above the $5 mark.
  • The Marathon gas station on Kenwood Road had gas selling for $5.25 per gallon on Friday afternoon, above the national average of $4.39.
  • In Ohio, the average is higher than the national mark, at $4.83.
  • This year, experts say the ongoing blockade in the Strait of Hormuz is preventing the flow of oil around the world and contributing to higher prices at the pump.

Axios: Ohio farmers face ’80s-style price squeeze

  • Rising costs are squeezing Ohio’s largest industry, putting new and rising pressures on farmers statewide.
  • Why it matters: Agriculture drives $124 billion of Ohio’s economy and supports one in eight jobs — so strain on farms can ripple into food prices and local economies.
  • What they’re saying: Ryan Matthews, a spokesperson for the Ohio Farm Bureau, called food and agriculture “the backbone of our state” and said farmers today are navigating an economy reminiscent of the 1980s farm crisis.
  • But rising fuel, shipping and packaging costs are squeezing those already tight profits.
  • “I’m looking at those [fuel] bills, and they’re $700 instead of the usual $400,” he said. “Our containers have gone up about 30% over the last couple years.”

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“Patently Ridiculous,” “Pure Fantasy,” “Soft Allegiance to Hard Truths,” GOP  Candidates for Secretary of State Struggle Ahead of May 5 Primary

“We just cannot afford to have people in statewide office that don’t have the brain to do the job”

COLUMBUS, OH – In the final days before the May 5 primary election, Republican candidates to become Ohio’s next chief elections officer seem to be in an all-out race to see who can get the worst coverage, with their vows to eliminate drop boxes and make it harder for Ohioans to vote garnering widespread criticism.

While Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague put out a weird Sesame Street themed ad doubling down on his promise to eliminate drop boxes – a promise that Marcell Strbich shares – a WVXU analysis emphasized that the ad “takes so many liberties with the truth behind ballot boxes it is hard to know where to begin.”

Local elections officials are also continuing to make clear that they “strongly support the use of drop boxes for Ohio voters,” and are sounding the alarm on Sprague and Strbich’s attacks, highlighting that “despite unsubstantiated claims to the contrary, drop boxes are safe, secure and reliable.”

Read more about the Republicans candidates’ closing message ahead of the May 5 primary election in the race that Cleveland.com’s Today in Ohio podcast says is “flying under the radar,” but “could have a direct impact on how — and whether — you cast your vote.”

Cleveland.com: Bob Sprague wants to be secretary of state — but he doesn’t get how Ohio elections work

The governor’s race gets the headlines. The Senate race dominates the ads. But quietly flying under the radar in Ohio’s primary is a contest that could have a direct impact on how — and whether — you cast your vote. 

The Today in Ohio podcast crew talked Wednesday about candidates seeking to be secretary of state and noted how the guy who might be the Republican frontrunner seems to lack the brainpower to understand how the office works.

Bob Sprague, the current Ohio state treasurer, has been running an ad promising to abolish all ballot drop boxes in Ohio. It’s a red-meat promise designed to appeal to voters who’ve been told — without evidence — that Ohio’s elections are riddled with fraud.

“Laura, can you believe Bob Sprague, the leading Republican seeking the job of Secretary of State, is so desperate as to be pandering his ads with promises to abolish all ballot drop boxes? That’s patently ridiculous. People love ballot drop boxes,” host Chris Quinn said to open Wednesday’s discussion. He noted that ballot drop boxes are a service to the disabled.

But the drop box issue isn’t even the most revealing part of Sprague’s platform. That distinction belongs to his push for a new paper printout system at the polls — something he describes as a voter-verified record that poll workers could collect as a backup to the tabulation process.

As Quinn noted, Ohio already has that. Voters fill out paper ballots, which are then scanned and secured by elections workers. The paper backup exists in Ohio because the state law requires it.

Host Laura Johnston said Ohio voters don’t tap a touchscreen and walk away. Ohio moved away from that kind of election machine years ago. Sprague’s big election security proposal is a solution to a problem that was solved before he started running.

“We just cannot afford to have people in statewide office that don’t have the brain to do the job,” Quinn said.

[…]

And the consequences of banning drop boxes aren’t abstract. Drop boxes are a lifeline for voters with disabilities, those without reliable transportation, and working people who can’t make it to a polling location during standard hours. Eliminating them in the name of a fraud threat that doesn’t exist is voter suppression.

[…]

WVXU: Analysis: Fact-checking Robert Sprague’s TV ad on ballot drop boxes

It happens way too often in politics.

A candidate creates a “problem” that doesn’t really exist and proceeds to spend campaign dollars knocking down straw men.

This is what Robert Sprague, one of two Republican candidates vying to be Ohio’s next Secretary of State, is doing with a deliberately cartoonish TV ad where he compares ballot drop boxes to garbage cans, saying the boxes are meant to encourage election fraud.

[…]

Sprague’s ad takes so many liberties with the truth behind ballot boxes it is hard to know where to begin.

First, if there is one thing you will never see in Ohio, it is a ballot drop box on the street where you live.

The real ballot drop boxes are on the property of Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections. There are no Muppet-like creatures living inside them. Just ballots.

Ohio law requires a bipartisan pair of board of elections workers to remove ballots from the drop boxes once a day and at 7:30 p.m. on an election day.

It takes two keys to open the box — one held by the Democrat and the other by a Republican. The ballots are then taken inside the board of elections office and checked to make sure they were put there by registered voters. If the ballots check that box, they are added to the count. If the ballots are not legitimate, they are not counted.

Period. End of story.

Every job in a county board of elections in Ohio has, in effect, two people for every job — one Republican and one Democrat. They are meant to be a check on each other, but, nearly always, they work together just to get the ballot counting done.

I have seen this process play itself out many times, in many counties. It works well, in almost all cases, and is a process that has been in place since at least 2010.

The picture Sprague paints in his cartoonish ad is pure fantasy.

Maybe he assumes that his Republican primary voters won’t notice the difference.

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio GOP candidates push to eliminate ballot drop boxes

[…]

In a new ad, state Treasurer Robert Sprague, a Republican campaigning to run Ohio’s elections, tells a Sesame Street-like character named “Lefty the Cheat” that “ballot drop boxes just aren’t secure” and pledges to eliminate them.

Sprague’s primary challenger, retired Air Force intelligence officer Marcell Strbich, has also advocated for banning election drop boxes. He wants to end no-excuse absentee voting and require people to vote on paper ballots. 

But local election officials and voting rights groups say drop boxes are a safe way for older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, college students and busy voters to return their absentee ballots.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, describes the option as “secure” on his office’s website. But he’s also floated the idea of eliminating them in a letter to legislative leaders. Any change would require state lawmakers’ approval.

Unlike the scenario in Sprague’s ad, the average Ohioan is unlikely to stumble upon one on their street. Each county has one drop box located at its county board of elections, monitored with video, fire- and bomb-proofed and emptied by members of two different political parties.

“Ohio’s local election officials strongly support the use of drop boxes for Ohio voters. Despite unsubstantiated claims to the contrary, drop boxes are safe, secure and reliable,” said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.

There are no documented cases of ballots being damaged or stolen from Ohio drop boxes, Ockerman said. “Furthermore, Ohio already has strong ballot-harvesting laws and directives, which discourage and punish any potentially nefarious behavior.”

[…]

“More Republicans than Democrats, generally, vote absentee in Ohio,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “And so, anyone who thinks that eliminating drop boxes only harms one set of voters is wrong. It harms senior citizens, people with disabilities, rural Ohioans and so many others who prefer to vote absentee.”

[…]

Ohio Capital Journal: Commentary: Ohio treasurer looking to play musical chairs with statewide office spreads false election hysteria

Ohio’s state treasurer, Robert Sprague, is a term-limited Republican musical chair politician who hopes to grab another statewide seat for himself as secretary of state — if he gets past GOP primary challenger Marcell Strbich on May 5 to face either Democrat Bryan Hambley or Allison Russo in November. 

To that end, Sprague recently dropped a campaign ad ahead of next week’s election that is highly revealing about the candidate’s fidelity to facts. 

[…]

Lot to unpack. But for starters, after seven years in a statewide office and four terms as a state rep, surely Sprague knows or should know the truth about ballot drop boxes in Ohio — which have been used for decades in red and blue states without controversy as a convenient way for voters to drop off their ballots without relying on the mail.

[…]

Trump described them as a “voter security disaster” (with zero evidence) as he deliberately seeded unfounded doubt about voting in the run-up to the presidential election — the same way he is seeding corrosive distrust of election systems ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

Republicans eager to align with Trump then and now, like Sprague, have likewise fueled misinformation about drop boxes as a source of widespread election fraud. 

Never mind that after the 2020 election, states across the country told the Associated Press there were nocases of fraud, vandalism, or theft involving drop boxes that would have affected election outcomes.

Sprague knows or should know how incredibly secure and sturdy the roughly 1,000-pound steel ballot drop boxes actually are in Ohio — bolted to the ground, only one per county boards of election, with 24/7 surveillance under stringent bipartisan oversight. (So not exactly something you’d see in “your neighborhood” sharing the sidewalk with a trash can.) 

Sprague also leans into the made-up GOP story of widespread noncitizen voting in U.S. elections in his ad — which he knows or should know is extremely rare and already illegal.

For years in Ohio, voters signed an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, to affirm their citizenship. The practice endured without incident (or massive voter fraud by noncitizens) until Trump and Co. began pushing the false claims of hordes of noncitizens voting despite all evidence to the contrary.

[…]

Here’s a word of clarity to Ohio voters about who has held one-party rule over the state for roughly 26 of the last 33 years. 

The Republican trifecta in both chambers of the state legislature and the governor’s office, as well as the Republican monopoly on every statewide office, wields absolute power over how, when and whether your vote counts or is trashed, (for noncompliance with never-ending GOP voting restrictions) or is purged without notice in more frequently conducted cancellations of voter registrations.  

The overarching tell of Sprague’s ad is its soft allegiance to hard truths. 

[…]

The Marietta Times: Election chief hopefuls disagree on drop boxes

Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, who is running in the Republican primary for secretary of state, said he wants to eliminate drop boxes and limit those who can vote absentee.

[…]

Marcell Strbich, Sprague’s opponent in next week’s Republican primary for secretary of state, also supports the elimination of drop boxes, eliminating absentee voting and requiring election boards to hand count votes.

Stephanie Penrose, the director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, said she doesn’t support the elimination of drop boxes, saying close to one-third of those who have voted absentee in the upcoming election have put their ballots in the board’s drop box.

Penrose said, “People have confidence in the drop boxes because there’s a camera on it. They shouldn’t be eliminated.”

[…]

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