Ohio candidates spend more than $400M on political ads

With Election Day less than two weeks away, Republicans and Democrats making their final push in the fight for the control of Congress. And one of the biggest battlegrounds right now is Ohio, of course. Candidates, political parties, outside groups spending more than $400 million on ads in the Senate race. Wow, a lot of money there. Let's get out to Pete Cudahy live in Sharonville, Ohio. So, Pete, you've been speaking with candidates out there, kind of getting a feel of what's going on. And so what is the feeling out there? What are voters looking at? Good morning, Paul. Well, both Republican incumbent John Husted and former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown say they're really running on their record. However, that hasn't stopped things from getting heated. They both put basically jabbing at each other and telling Ohioans that at this point, the other candidate will make the state worse. Now, Fox News power rankings have identified six states where there is a Senate race that is a toss-up, Ohio being one of them, and this really could decide who has the majority. Now, Ohio voters have elected Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown to the U.S. Senate three separate times, and despite losing to Senator Bernie Moreno back in 2024, he's hoping voters give him another chance after two years of Republican control in D.C. Very different in terms of people. People see the system as rigged. They didn't vote for this war. They didn't vote for higher gas prices. They didn't vote for higher costs at a grocery store or fertilizer prices. And people know that John Husted's done nothing to stop him. Farmers know he's not been there and they forget. People in town know that he's done nothing to stop high food prices. So it's just a very different time. Ohio's governor appointed Husted to the Senate in 2025 after J.D. Vance left the seat to become vice president. He's making the case that Ohio's economy is better than ever under Republican leadership. And he argues that the Buckeye State has seen enough of Sherrod Brown in the past. In Ohio, we have the lowest unemployment rate in Ohio history, the most jobs in our state's history. Why? Because we've created an environment that encourages people to invest here. Don't chase them away like Sherrod Brown wants to do. He's been in office for over 50 years. Can you name one thing that he's done to make your life better? One thing. Think of it. I mean, if he's been around that long, seemingly you can come up with one thing, right? With this race as close as it is, it's gotten a lot of national attention. President Donald Trump was here over a week ago. Today, Vice President J.D. Vance is here in Sharonville. And later in the week on Saturday, Barack Obama will be here. So this is definitely a race to keep an eye on, Paul. Yeah, Pete, so much attention there in Ohio. Same thing up here in Georgia. All right, Pete Cudahy, great to see you and we'll see you next time. Thank you.