There is a particular genre of campaign disaster in which a candidate’s most famous supporter flies in to help, walks onstage, and begins talking enthusiastically about the candidate’s worst subject. Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, provided a fine specimen. President Trump appeared at a rally for Republican candidates, including Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill JD Vance’s seat and now faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown in one of eight competitive Senate races that will be decided on November 3. And the thing Trump chose to praise, at some length, was data centers.
Here is why that is awkward. Many Ohio voters blame the facilities for rising energy prices, and Husted spent 2019 to 2025 as lieutenant governor championing data center investment in the state. A New York Times/Siena poll released Saturday found that 63% of Ohio voters oppose the construction of data centers to support AI, while just 31% support it. By an 11-point margin, voters trusted Brown more than Husted on the issue. In August, according to the New York Times, a memo from Senate Republicans’ own campaign arm described the politics of data centers as an “anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”
So naturally: “We want them,” the president said of data centers, citing the money to be made for Ohio, according to the Times. Barely a month earlier, Trump had written on social media that the “only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.” In recent weeks he has waved away AI concerns on the grounds that the United States cannot let China catch up in a tech race he says America is winning.
Husted has spent months trying to reposition himself as the candidate who tames the industry he invited in, sponsoring a bill meant to protect consumers from data-center-linked energy costs. Democrats blocked it in a procedural vote last week, denying him the victory. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill “toothless,” saying it would do “nothing to require data center companies to pay for their rising costs to the surrounding communities,” and demanded a stronger bill that also addresses AI safety. Trump raised the legislation at the rally, calling it a “very good” bill. “Sen. Husted brought that bill to the Senate floor,” he said, blaming Democrats for blocking it: “They didn’t want it -- only because we wanted it, probably because I wanted it.”
Imagine, for a moment, that you run Husted’s campaign. Your theory of the race is that Trump motivates supporters who would otherwise skip a midterm. That is probably true! The catch is that the motivating comes packaged with the president’s actual views, delivered in his actual order, and his actual view on your most radioactive issue is that the voters are wrong. Brown’s campaign responded within hours. “Jon Husted led the charge to bring data centers to Ohio, forcing Ohioans to pay thousands more in higher electric bills,” said spokesperson Lauren Chou, calling Husted the “face of data centers” in the state. Husted spokesperson Amy Natoce said the senator believes data centers are “a local decision.”
The cleanest illustration of the bind came from a Husted supporter. Brenda White -- described by the Times as a 66-year-old retired nurse, by CNBC as 60 -- turned up holding a sign urging construction of a data center near her home, which CNBC reported read “DATA CENTER SOUTH LORAIN.” As she prepared to pose for a photo with Husted, a man who appeared to be on the senator’s staff asked her to put the sign away; in CNBC’s telling, the question was, “Can we do it without the sign?” She refused. Per the Times, when she explained her support for the data center, Husted “was just shocked I was advocating for it.” White said she plans to vote for Husted “because he’s Republican and he’s working with Trump.” Natoce had no comment. Not long after, Trump was onstage advocating for data centers too.
The rest of the speech
Trump spent much of the rally promising financial help for Ohio if Republicans win and warning he would be less willing to work with the state if Democrats do. Ohio’s elected Republican officials frequently call him seeking money, he said; referring to Amy Acton, the Democrat facing Vivek Ramaswamy in the governor’s race, he added, “But I’m not going to help her.” He predicted a “big surprise” on November 3, called Democrats “dumb son of a bitches,” and closed the motivational portion thus: “Just get out and vote. If you do that, we’re going to win, and we’re going to win big, and we’re going to shove it up their a--.”
Husted did his own work on Brown, a veteran Democrat: “He’s been in office for 50 years -- can you name one thing that he has done for you?” Brown’s campaign, in an email Chou sent to Reuters, returned fire on Husted’s support for Trump’s Iran policy and the “sweetheart tax deals” that lured data centers to Ohio: “Jon Husted puts corporations and billionaires first every time, and we all pay for it.” Outside groups have poured tens of millions into the contest, making it the second-most-expensive Senate race in the country, per Federal Election Commission filings.
The backdrop is prices. Trump took more than 55% of Ohio’s vote in 2024, but his approval has sagged amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and stubbornly high costs. Ohio gasoline has risen 35% over the past year to an average $4.16 a gallon, according to AAA, and a CBC report found Canadian retaliation for Trump’s trade policy touches about $3 billion worth of Ohio exports, based on 2025 figures. Husted told reporters the U.S. must win the Iran war “on our terms” and that meanwhile he is “showing people that I’m fighting for lower prices.”
That message has ground to make up. Outside his former high school, Jonathan Smith, a 19-year-old construction worker and undecided independent, held a sign reading, “Where are my lower gas prices?” “I’ve got a wedding to save up for, and with gas prices continuously going up, it’s getting harder and harder to put aside money,” he said. Inside, Samuel Clevenger, 20, an apprentice plumber, allowed, “I’m not huge on the AI data centers,” but said Trump’s attention to Ohio and his 2025 cap on taxes on overtime had encouraged him to vote.
A rally, as an instrument, is built to fix an enthusiasm problem. Ohio Republicans have an enthusiasm problem and a price problem, and the instrument only works on one of them. A staffer can ask you to put away the sign. Nobody has figured out how to put away the electric bill.