Jon Husted faces a moment of truth in the Senate

Por Ali Bianco — POLITICO – TOP Stories

Jon Husted knows he’s been running uphill for much of his campaign. He’s betting that a possible vote slated for this week could change that.

The Ohio Republican’s been outraised and battered by negative ads from his challenger, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. He’s been lambasted as the “face of data centers” that have eaten taxpayer dollars and spiked energy bills. He’s been dragged for backing President Donald Trump’s war with Iran that’s raised gas prices. And he’s been at a disadvantage in both cash and across public polling that’s consistently shown the race as a jump ball, with several public polls putting Brown slightly ahead. Internal polling from top Senate Republicans also showed Husted trailing Brown, as POLITICO has reported.

“I’ve always known for a year and a half it would be a tough race,” Husted told POLITICO in an exclusive interview. “We were really getting outspent June through August, and now starting literally like two weeks ago, we started to equalize the spending and then slightly move ahead. It takes time.”

But Republicans are gunning to deliver Husted a win on the issue that’s been drowning out the Ohio airwaves and quickly defining the race.

The Senate is expected to take up Husted’s Ratepayer Protection Act, which aims to curb energy costs on taxpayers associated with the data centers. Many Republicans see the Ratepayer Protection Act as an opportunity, especially for Husted, to exit with affordability legislation they can then message in the midterms’ final sprint. Husted’s first attempt to fast-track the bill failed shortly after the bill passed with near-unanimity in the House.

“I am responding to what the voters want: They want the data centers to be held accountable for the costs of new electricity and infrastructure,” Husted told POLITICO. “I thought, ‘Well, if Democrats say they care about affordability and stopping data centers from running up electric costs, and Republicans say the same thing, well, then let’s just get this done.’”

But the potential salve is coming months into Brown’s campaign hammering Husted for his tenure as Ohio’s lieutenant governor, during a period when the state ushered in several billion dollars in tax incentives and additional investment in data centers.

“Jon Husted led the charge to bring data centers to Ohio, forcing Ohioans to pay thousands more in higher electric bills and giving giant out-of-state corporations billions of dollars in out-of-control tax breaks,” Lauren Chou, a spokesperson for Brown, said in a statement. “Ohioans should get to decide if data centers are built in their communities and should never be forced to subsidize the electricity costs of big corporations.”

When pressed on his previous support for the state’s data center expansion, Husted told POLITICO: “I’m not the one making the attacks. I’m not the one lying about it.”

Husted has accused Brown of the same, pointing to a 2015 press release from Brown welcoming the investment and telling POLITICO that Brown “celebrated data centers when he was in the Senate.” Brown is facing his own pain points due to his longstanding support from labor unions, who cheer jobs coming in from the tech projects.

Yet the tech centers have become so politically toxic for Husted that the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in August it had become a major liability that could ripple out to other races.

“Sherrod has been beating the crap out of him for six months, lie after lie after lie, after lie,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, Husted’s fellow Ohio Republican, told POLITICO.

If the GOP can muscle it through this week with no changes, the bill could land on Trump’s desk before Election Day, and Husted will make the case to voters that he’s the candidate who’s cracking down on the emerging technology. And if it fails, Moreno outlined the hints of the next attack the GOP might wield: “Sherrod Brown would have blocked it just like the other Democrats, so he’s not for lowering electricity prices.”

But Husted has no illusions about the political calculations at play.

“The voters just need to know that the Democrats aren’t serious about solving this problem. They’re serious at exploiting it,” he said. “They own it now.”

The GOP is almost certain to face resistance from Democrats — and they’ll need seven to clear even the first procedural hurdle. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the bill as a toothless “fraud.” Husted’s bill would have states “consider” — but not mandate — a framework for data centers to shoulder energy costs and grid updates. Several Democrats believe the bill doesn’t go far enough, and many haven’t decided if they’ll back it, especially with the stakes hanging over a race that could determine control of the chamber.

While the bill’s fate this week looks dicey, getting members on the record if they sink it is also partly the point.

“We have to put a roll-call vote to put the Democrats on record,” Moreno told POLITICO.

Either way, Husted is poised to head home at the end of next week with an answer to the onslaught of ads that have painted him as a friend to data centers. And now, he also has the financial edge to make his case across the state just as early voting in Ohio kicks off Oct. 6.

Indeed, the cavalry has finally arrived for Husted to the tune of $189 million in ad reservations. The Senate GOP’s biggest campaign arms, Trump’s affiliated super PACs, Elon Musk’s America PAC and others are injecting more and more into the state, making it the most expensive Senate race this cycle.

Perhaps most critical for Husted will be the barrage of spending that’s just now hitting Brown from Fairshake, the pro-cryptocurrency PAC, which just last week committed $30 million against the Democrat. That money uncorked shortly after a crypto bill backed by the industry (and by Husted) fell apart in the Senate.

The spending advantage has some Republicans more hopeful after many GOP operatives spent the spring and summer sweating they could lose the state Trump carried three times.

“The 30 million dollars from Fairshake is a big deal,” GOP Sen. Jim Banks from neighboring Indiana told POLITICO, noting that Husted’s race was a key topic during the NRSC lunch last week.

“I’m more optimistic for Jon Husted than I’ve been in a year,” he added. “Yeah, I feel better about Jon’s race than I have for a long time.”

But Ohio voters have been feeling the pinch from more than just high energy costs. While Husted has not gone as far in criticizing the war in Iran as some other Republicans running for Senate in the Midwest, he told POLITICO he believes the war “needs to come to an end as quickly as possible” so gas prices can come down. Last week, he voted against the war powers resolution rebuking the war again.

Husted is also pointing to a pattern of polling from when his Ohio colleague ousted Brown two years ago. Moreno, Husted noted, was down in multiple polls against Brown in the final days before the 2024 election. “And he ended up winning by three and a half,” Husted said, “in a better environment.” (Moreno, for his part, told POLITICO “I have PTSD” from the operatives worried about losing Ohio.)

Both Trump and Vance are expected to travel to Ohio before the midterms to support Husted, who indicated their presence can only help him.

“I look forward to it,” he said.

“President Trump has won Ohio three times by 8, 8 and 11 points,” Husted added. “And you know, the people that voted for him in the last election, if they turn out in this election, we will win.”

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories