President Donald Trump used a Saturday rally near Dayton to bolster Sen. Jon Husted and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy while defending Ohio’s expansion of artificial-intelligence data centers, an issue that has become a central vulnerability for Republicans in two increasingly competitive statewide races.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
VANDALIA, Ohio — President Donald Trump brought his pre-election campaign tour to southwestern Ohio on Saturday, urging Republicans to rally behind Sen. Jon Husted in a closely contested Senate race while wading directly into one of the most contentious issues confronting the incumbent: the rapid expansion of artificial-intelligence data centers.
Speaking at Butler High School in Vandalia outside Dayton, Trump defended the enormous computing facilities despite growing concerns among voters about their demand for electricity, water and land. Husted, who promoted data-center investment while serving as Ohio’s lieutenant governor, has faced repeated attacks from Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown over the industry’s expansion and its potential effect on household utility costs.
WATCH:
“Look, there’s so much money to be made for Ohio. You can’t just turn them off. They’ll go to China,” Trump said during remarks focused partly on the data-center debate. The president said his administration is working to ensure the facilities “benefit local communities” while maintaining that the United States cannot surrender its position in artificial intelligence to China.
The response inside the gymnasium was noticeably quieter during Trump’s discussion of data centers than during many of his other remarks. The sprawling facilities have become politically sensitive in communities across the country as residents question whether large technology companies are consuming electricity and other resources at a scale that could increase costs for surrounding households.
The dispute has particular significance in Ohio because Husted played a prominent role in attracting technology investment to the state before being appointed to the U.S. Senate seat vacated when JD Vance became vice president. Husted must now win the seat outright against Brown, the former three-term Democratic senator who lost his previous Senate race to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024.
Brown and Democratic-aligned groups have sought to turn Husted’s history of encouraging data-center development into a liability, arguing that state incentives benefited major technology companies without adequately protecting residential ratepayers.
“Senator Jon Husted gave billions in tax breaks to Big Tech to make sure they would build their data centers in Ohio,” Brown wrote Friday on X. “Now, he’s making Ohioans foot the bill.”
Husted has responded by pushing legislation intended to address concerns about the electrical infrastructure required by large data centers. His Ratepayer Protection Act would direct utility regulators toward policies designed to keep the infrastructure expenses generated by major new power users from being shifted onto households and small businesses.
The measure overwhelmingly cleared the House but encountered resistance in the Senate. Husted earlier sought unanimous consent to advance the proposal, and a Democrat objected. A later Senate effort received 57 votes, short of the 60 required to proceed, with four Democrats joining Republicans. Critics argued that key portions of the proposal were voluntary and did not impose sufficiently strong requirements on data-center operators. Husted has maintained that the legislation is designed to prevent ordinary consumers from absorbing data-center infrastructure costs.
Trump praised Husted’s attempt to move the legislation and presented the senator as someone trying to balance continued investment in artificial intelligence with protections for local communities.
The president’s position also creates a politically complicated dynamic for Husted. While the senator has emphasized safeguards for ratepayers, Trump has emerged as a strong national advocate for data-center construction, arguing that the country must rapidly increase computing capacity to maintain its lead over China in artificial intelligence.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, defended Husted’s approach and noted that Brown also previously supported data-center development.
“You got to remember, Sherrod Brown was for data centers, and Jon Husted is for data centers being responsible,” Scott told reporters. “If a community doesn’t want them, he doesn’t want them either.”
The data-center fight comes as Republicans acknowledge that Ohio, which has moved decisively toward the GOP in recent presidential elections, remains one of the most competitive Senate contests of the 2026 cycle. Democrats have identified Ohio alongside North Carolina and Maine as important opportunities in their effort to gain control of the Senate.
Scott recently placed Ohio among a group of battleground races Republicans view as highly competitive.
“The good news for us is that Jon Husted is a closer,” Scott said. “We’re seeing the gap that was there between the two candidates, which was just a few points, now it is right at a dead-even race. So this is as tight as ticks, as we say in South Carolina.”
The contest has consequently attracted substantial outside spending and national attention as both parties calculate potential paths to Senate control. Reuters described the Ohio election as one of the country’s most competitive Senate races and reported that outside organizations have already poured tens of millions of dollars into the contest.
Trump’s appearance was part of what he has described as a 32-day campaign push leading into the Nov. 3 midterm elections. His recent stops included heavily Republican Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama before he traveled to Ohio, where both the Senate and governor’s races have developed into high-profile contests.
The president used much of his rally to make an economic argument for keeping Republicans in power, telling supporters that conditions in Ohio and elsewhere were improving despite continuing voter concern over prices.
“Your state is booming. Every — I hate to say it — every state is booming,” Trump said.
Cost-of-living concerns remain prominent in the Dayton region. Fuel prices have been elevated amid the continuing conflict involving Iran, while residents have also faced higher costs for other necessities. Days before Trump arrived, nearly 1,400 workers were laid off at a Navistar truck factory in nearby Springfield, dealing another blow to an area where economic conditions have become an important campaign issue.
Husted acknowledged the state’s history of industrial hardship while arguing that Republican leadership has improved Ohio’s economic position. He recalled that his father worked at a factory that eventually closed and told the crowd that the state had emerged from difficult economic periods.
“We now have the most jobs and the lowest unemployment rate we’ve ever had in the history of Ohio,” Husted said.
Ohio’s August unemployment rate was 3.3%, the lowest recorded since the state’s current unemployment series began in 1976, according to an analysis of government data published ahead of the rally.
Brown’s campaign has also targeted Husted over contributions from retail magnate Les Wexner, who previously employed Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. Husted subsequently donated his remaining Wexner campaign contributions to an organization combating human trafficking.
The issue was visible outside the rally site, where several signs referenced Epstein. More than 100 protesters gathered along the road near the school carrying signs opposing Trump and Husted.
Inside, the atmosphere was markedly different. Supporters wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats, Trump-themed jerseys and other Republican campaign apparel loudly welcomed the party’s candidates before the president arrived.
Trump’s Ohio visit was not limited to the Senate race. Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy also appeared at the rally as he campaigns against Democrat Dr. Amy Acton, the former Ohio health director who became nationally known during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramaswamy, a biotechnology entrepreneur and former 2024 Republican presidential candidate, entered the governor’s contest with widespread support among Ohio Republicans and a substantial fundraising advantage. His campaign has spent more than $12 million on advertising, but the contest with Acton has remained competitive with only weeks remaining before Election Day.
Ramaswamy used his appearance Saturday to emphasize his family’s immigrant experience and the economic opportunities he said the United States provided him.
“I’m so grateful to this state and to this country for giving a kid like me opportunities that would not have been available to my family in any other country on planet earth,” Ramaswamy said.
The rally placed Trump at the center of two consequential Ohio campaigns as Republicans work to preserve their congressional majorities and retain control of the governor’s office. For Husted, however, the president’s appearance also put renewed attention on the politically difficult data-center issue — an industry Trump strongly supports and one that Brown is attempting to make a defining question in the final month of the Senate campaign.
Original article
Comments