Republicans in historically critical battleground county pull no punches in midterm homestretch: 'Lot of hope'
HAMILTON, OH - Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, is fighting for his political future in a tight race in reliably red Ohio, and he spoke to Fox News Digital along with other local Republicans about what to expect in the few weeks before the critical midterm election.
"Look, he's been there for 50 years and everywhere I go, no one can name a single thing that he ever did for them," Husted said about his Democratic opponent Sherrod Brown, who is attempting to return to the U.S. Senate after being defeated by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, in 2024.
"And think about this, you can't keep sending the same old Sherrod Brown back to Washington and expect different results. The place is broken. He's the one that broke it. He created the system. If you wanna see a better, brighter future, you can’t send the same ol' Sherrod Brown back."
Husted, speaking to Fox News Digital at a Butler County GOP event on Saturday, pointed to the recent Ohio visits from President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., as a sign the momentum is on his side in a race some polls show him trailing.
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"We're seeing a ton of energy and literally in the last month, you can just feel it change…we're just seeing people all around the state just rallying and the crowds have been larger and more enthusiastic than I expected in a midterm. So it gives us a lot of hope."
Despite Ohio’s Republican lean, Husted faces an uphill battle in a race that has tightened considerably and Republicans are also contending with the traditional midterm headwinds facing the party in power, making turnout and voter enthusiasm especially critical in the weeks ahead.
Republicans are also facing concerns over gas prices and affordability, with voters focused on the cost of everyday essentials ahead of the midterm elections. Fox News Digital asked Husted about those concerns and whether part of his message to voters is that the Democratic Party being put back in power won’t fix those issues.
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"Yeah, look, it's common sense versus crazy," Husted explained. "Look, we've done some good things. We have more jobs in Ohio than we've ever had in our history, the lowest unemployment rate. Now we just got to fight to get prices down. The Democrats block us at every turn trying to do that."
Democrats in the Senate recently blocked Husted’s legislation aimed at requiring large data centers to pay for the power generation and infrastructure needed to serve their facilities rather than shifting that burden onto taxpayers as the data center issue becomes a top issue on the Ohio campaign trail.
"They blocked my ratepayer protection pledge, which would have forced data centers to pay their own way. Why? Because they just wanted to use it as a political issue rather than actually solving problems for people," Husted said.
Husted continued, "We're the party of drill, baby drill. They're the part of closing down pipelines and refineries and power plants. We are going to create the energy supply to meet the demand and help lower prices. The Democrats, they don't believe in any of it. They believe in command and control of the government. They want to take more of your money out of your paycheck, send it to Washington. If you want your freedom and your fortune, then you need to vote for Republicans."
If Husted is going to be successful in November, Ohio attorney and political strategist Mehek Cooke says the key will be pushing back hard on the affordability issue.
"I think Senator Houston every single day needs to close that deal by talking about his ratepayer protection data plan, where he promised to cut costs for every single American by saying data centers will not take our resources, taxpayers will not pay for those bills, data centers will and every Democrat voted against that," Cooke said, adding that the vote against Husted’s bill shows Democrats "don’t care about data centers."
"You know what they care about? The money that data centers give them," Cooke said, referencing Fox News Digital reporting that Brown has taken money from companies that operate data centers.
"Jekyll and Hyde, I've said this about Sherrod," Cooke said. "He's a different man in Ohio. He's the aw shucks, I'm disheveled, I don't know where I am, what day is it? You love me, I love you. And then he gets to Washington and he turns his back on us. So we care about datacenters. We don't wanna pay their bills. And guess what? John Husted will make sure we never do. He's pushing affordability that Sherrod Brown could never dream of while pocketing their money."
Brown campaign spokesperson Lauren Chou pushed back in a statement to Fox News Digital, accusing Husted of supporting the war in Iran that "sent the costs of gas and diesel to record highs" and saying he "led the charge to bring 226 data centers to Ohio."
"Jon Husted puts corporations and billionaires first every time, and we all pay for it," Chou said.
Butler, Clermont and Warren counties form a critical Republican vote reservoir in southwestern Ohio, collectively producing hundreds of thousands of votes and some of the state’s largest GOP margins. Their importance was underscored in 2004, when George W. Bush’s combined margin in the three counties exceeded his statewide margin of victory.
Several Republican candidates on stage Saturday night pointed to the importance of those counties and Art Sauerwein, Butler County GOP Executive Committee Chairman, told Fox News Digital the "biggest concern" he’s hearing from Republicans is that if Democrats win the governorship, Senate seat, and contested House races "our state’s going to be in huge trouble."
"The wokeness that's been going on under the Democrat leadership has really damaged Ohio in the past and we have our platform as Republicans to cut taxes, cut spending, eliminate fraud and waste and we want to work on our schools and get the wokeness that's in our schools," Sauerwein said, adding that Republicans are "energized and motivated."
Billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also appears to be in a neck-and-neck race with his Democratic opponent, former Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton. Sauerwein expressed optimism about that race, calling Ramaswamy the "hardest working guy I have seen."
"Almost to the level of President Trump," Sauerwein said. " But I'm really impressed with how hard he's working. He's been going all over the state. His message is spectacular to what we need in Ohio. If he only delivers on half of what he says, Ohio is going to be in awesome shape."