Husted Defends Trump Energy Agenda as $500 Billion Ohio Data Center Fuels Utility Cost Backlash
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Aug 21
Husted Defends Trump Energy Agenda as $500 Billion Ohio Data Center Fuels Utility Cost Backlash
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Aug 21
Summary
Jon Husted used a Friday appearance at Cleveland-Cliffs in Middletown with Vice President JD Vance to argue rising Ohio power bills stem from past plant closures, not data center construction.
The defense came after an NRSC memo called data centers a "sleeper issue," warning voter anxiety over electricity costs could endanger Husted's Senate seat and spread beyond Ohio if not contained.
Ohio sits at the center of that fight, with projects including a proposed 10-gigawatt Pike County campus expected to cost more than $500 billion, while polling shows Husted narrowly trailing former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Brown's campaign countered that Husted helped secure tax breaks for data centers as lieutenant governor and said those projects are the real driver of higher utility bills.
Husted also tied Trump's agenda to manufacturing, highlighting a $500 million Energy Department grant that Cleveland-Cliffs will match for a $1 billion Middletown upgrade expected to support more than 1,500 construction jobs.