EXCLUSIVE: ‘DC Guy’ Versus ‘Ohio Guy’ as Husted Draws Contrast With Brown

COLUMBUS, Ohio—”I’m an Ohio guy and he’s a DC guy.” That’s how Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, summarized the contest between himself and his 2026 Democrat opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown.

The Daily Signal was at The Boat House Monday for an event featuring Husted, Ohio GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou, and Vivek Ramaswamy during which Ramaswamy endorsed Husted. Beforehand, The Daily Signal spoke exclusively with the senator.

When asked about the tactics in running against Brown, and if his campaign will focus on Brown being liberal, Husted pointed to last year’s race between Brown and Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.

“Look, you can look back at the race he just lost. I mean, he lost to Bernie Moreno by over 200,000 votes, less than a year ago. And what Ohioans concluded then is what Bernie said, is that Sherrod Brown’s just too liberal for Ohio. Now me, on the other hand, I have a long relationship with the voters from Ohio,” Husted offered, citing the statewide positions he’s held.

Prior to being appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to fill now Vice President JD Vance’s seat, Husted had served as lieutenant governor, as Ohio secretary of state, as a state representative which included time as speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, and as a state senator.

“I’m an Ohio guy and he’s a DC guy. I have been in Ohio during the tough times when we went from being a Rust Belt state now to a state that has a growing economy, and I’ve been part of cutting taxes and advancing school choice and helping build an agenda that supports working families,” Husted continued.

The Daily Signal reached out to the Brown campaign for comment on Husted’s remarks.

Triantafilou also brought up Brown during the main event, referring to the former senator as a “has been.”

“Ohioans sent the message last cycle. Let me ask this room, do we want Sherrod Brown and Joe Biden and AOC and the far-left policies that he supported in Washington, D.C.? Do we want those policies back in Washington representing us here in Ohio?” Triantafilou asked the crowd.

“He is sold out to the far left of his party, voting nearly 80% of the time with Joe Biden’s agenda … He’s been soft on crime. He supports Big Pharma. He has never, ever really understood the values of Ohio. This is a man who talks about a rigged system, who himself spent almost 50 years in elected office. If he was going to unrig the system, he’d have done it 30 years ago. So, Sherrod Brown is not the future of the state. He is the past. He is the has-been in this race, and we are going to elect Jon Husted,” the chairman continued to applause.

Triantafilou brought up Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who reportedly recruited Brown to run and is currently threatening a government shutdown.

“Look, if we shut down, it’s a Schumer shutdown, because the Democrats will refuse to continue to support the government being open. The Democrats will pay for it. We know that anytime that you shut down the government, you don’t have a good reason, your party will bear the consequences.” he said. “So, if Chuck Schumer and the Democrats choose to shut the government down, it will once again prove they have no agenda, and that they are so interested in seeing Donald Trump fail to sacrifice the good of the country to hurt Donald Trump.”

There’s still more plaguing the Democratic Party. The assassination of Charlie Kirk has thrust the country into conversations about political violence. Husted was asked if he sees “a problem on the Left.”

“There is rhetoric among leaders on the political left that is out of bounds,” Husted shared. “When you start calling people fascists and comparing them to Nazi Germany, that is out of bounds. And what it does … if you were in Germany in the 30s and 40s, the idea that that you would do anything to stop Adolf Hitler … would seem like a justifiable thing to do. Well, when you make those kinds of accusations here in America, which are just completely out of bounds, because there’s nothing happening in America that closely resembles Hitler’s Nazi Germany, you’re encouraging people to do extreme things to try to stop it. And that’s happening at high levels in the operative community and among elected officials on the political left, and it’s wrong.”

Husted and Triantafilou spoke with reporters after the main event and further emphasized party unity.

“As [Triantafilou] will tell you,” Husted said, “this is September of the year ahead of time, and this allows us to, you know, just organize our efforts together, to get the job done, help turn out votes, to help down-ticket people do their campaigns.” The senator added that “all of these things allow us to focus earlier on the main mission, which is to win next November.”

The Husted-Brown race is regarded as “Lean Republican.” Polling also favors Husted over Brown.

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