Ohio Senator Jon Husted, seeking re-election, defended former President Trump’s energy policies while blaming Democratic initiatives for rising electricity costs, not the booming data center industry. His remarks come as the National Republican Senatorial Committee warns that voter backlash over data centers’ impact on utility prices could jeopardize his crucial Senate seat against Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown. Husted’s campaign also touted a $1 billion investment in Cleveland-Cliffs, highlighting its importance for job, economic, and national security.
Ohio Senator Jon Husted, a Republican seeking re-election this November, robustly defended former President Donald Trump's energy and economic policies during a recent visit to a southwestern Ohio steel mill. Joined by Vice President JD Vance and other GOP officials, Husted addressed growing voter anxiety over the proliferation of data centers and their potential impact on utility prices – an issue Republicans fear could jeopardize his crucial Senate seat.
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His remarks follow closely on the heels of a National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) memo that branded data centers a 'sleeper issue' in the current election cycle. The memo highlighted increasing public concern across America regarding how these energy-intensive facilities might drive up household utility expenses.
Ohio is a hub for significant data center development, notably a proposed 10-gigawatt campus in Pike County projected to cost over $500 billion. Yet, Husted unequivocally dismissed data center construction as the culprit for escalating electricity prices. Instead, he attributed the rises to Democratic policies, stating at the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant in Middletown, Ohio: 'You want to have lower electricity prices — I want to tell you why they're rising. Because Congress and, under the Obama administration, under the Biden administration, they closed 23 power plants in the state of Ohio, representing half the electricity we use on a daily basis. Radical climate policies did that.' It is worth noting, however, that aging power plants in the state have been decommissioned under both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations in recent years.
The event saw Husted and Vance joined by fellow Republican hopefuls, including Vivek Ramaswamy, who is engaged in a tight gubernatorial race against Democrat Amy Acton. Recent polling indicates Husted is narrowly behind his Democratic challenger, former Senator Sherrod Brown, in his re-election campaign. Lauren Chou, a spokesperson for Brown's campaign, issued a statement asserting that Husted, during his tenure as lieutenant governor, was instrumental in granting tax breaks to data centers, directly contributing to elevated utility costs. Husted's campaign did not immediately provide a response to these claims.
Maintaining Husted's Senate seat is paramount for Republicans aiming to secure their majority in the upcoming Congress. While the GOP is generally favored to control the Senate, internal party concerns are mounting due to factors like former President Trump's declining approval ratings, persistent inflation, the ongoing Iran war, and escalating anxieties over data centers. The urgency was underscored in the NRSC's Tuesday memo, obtained by CNBC and initially reported by Axios, which warned: 'If voters' perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio.'
Amidst the political sparring, Husted also highlighted the Trump administration's commitment to Ohio manufacturing, referencing a $500 million Department of Energy grant for Cleveland-Cliffs. This grant, initially approved by the Biden administration for a hydrogen-powered furnace at the Middletown facility, will now support other critical upgrades, including its blast furnace and integration of artificial intelligence technologies. Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would match the DOE funding, creating a total $1 billion investment set to employ over 1,500 workers during its construction phase.
Husted passionately argued for the significance of such investments, stating, 'We can bring back manufacturing to this great country, in places like Middletown and across our great state. And why is it important that we do this? Investments like this, a billion-dollar investment right here? Because it's job security, it's economic security, it's national security.'
