So is that what this Ohio race is about, keeping the Democrats out as opposed to keeping Republicans in?

I think it's both.

I think it's about us telling our story of what we've done to fight for working families.

Look, in Ohio, it was just announced this week we have the lowest unemployment rate and the most jobs in Ohio history.

And then with the working family tax cut plan, we fought for those families.

No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, $2,200 tax credit for working families with children.

All of those things help people in Ohio making life more affordable.

Do I have that right?

When you go out in Ohio and it looks like you're in a tight fight over in Ohio to keep that seat, are you finding there's a lot of misinformation out there?

Well, look, here's the bottom line in Ohio.

We have more jobs than we've ever had in the history of our state.

And literally this week, we set a record for the lowest unemployment rate in the history of Ohio, 3.3%.

So we're growing jobs.

People are finding jobs.

We're also bringing jobs to our state that pay great wages.

So what do you think he means by

And when I caught up with Ohio Republican Senator John Husted on Capitol Hill today, he highlighted his support for a bipartisan bill to force data center companies to pay for their own electricity usage.

I've sponsored the Ratepayer, Ratepayer Protection Act.

The Ratepayer Protection Act passed the House 417 to three.

We hope to have it on the floor next week, and it would require data centers to pay for all of their electricity infrastructure, means generation, and, um, and all of the transmission lines.

And we hope to get that done because that's something that Democrats, Republicans, uh, in the House agreed upon.

We hope to get the Senate Democrats to come along with us.

What do you, what do you say to constituents, though, that just feel that no one is listening to them, and they have these popping up in their backyards?

I am listening to them.

Where do you stand on that when it comes to tennis and soccer and other sports? A lot of Americans don't have a shot because some 23-year-old comes over here and they have their country pay full freight.

Yeah, I've been leading on this issue.

I've introduced legislation in the Senate to cap the number of roster spots from foreign athletes in American colleges and universities.

I, my wife, two of my children have all played college sports.

It's been an essential part of our character building.

I wouldn't be a US senator if I hadn't played college football.

It developed character and toughness.

What's your reaction? Because I imagine Ohio is affected.

Unbelievable

... uh, free healthcare for them, sanctuary cities and sanctuary states.

You gotta remind them of, like, it was an invasion, and we stopped it.

But there's a little reminder that happened tragically in Ohio over the last 10 days.

Three, three Ohioans were killed by illegal alien drivers that received driver's licenses from sanctuary cities and sanctuary states, and we gotta stop that, uh, because it's still not done.

The work still remains securing the border, but also deporting the people that were here illegally committing crimes, and tragically, in the last 10 days, taking the lives of three Ohioans.

We're gonna remind people that there's still work to do.

[bell rings]

How closely are you working with staff and committee counsel to make sure that you thread the needle that the Supreme Court will say, yes, this is appropriate?

Well, we are working closely, and I have some experience on this because I had legislation that I worked on when I was lieutenant governor of Ohio that would require parental notification.

Again, we're just trying to treat kids in the – Digital world, same way you do in the physical world.

You can't go in and buy cigarettes or pornography or things like that until you're of a certain age, and there's a way you can check for that.

You can do that in the digital world as well.

And we know that because Instagram and other places are creating teen accounts.

We know that they have the ability to determine these things, and we know that it's possible.

Anything that needs explaining about that bill to the audience, Senator Houston?

Tell us, is, is, does this extend to, like, romantic conversations as well? Where's the line here?

I have been...

My wife Tina and I have been very concerned for many years about how technology is impacting our children in this country, uh, that the big tech companies have not protected our children.

They've put, they've put their own, you know, profits in front of protecting our kids.

And so I've leaned in on this on social media, on algorithms that target our kids, on, on things like sextortion and other things that have targeted our kids, and now we're in this new world with AI and you have these chatbots where people can impersonate children and sort of promote this sick, evil concept of, of sexually explicit activity with children, uh, in an AI space.

And this is trying to stop that.

We don't need another way to use technology to exploit kids or the images of kids or the creation of an AI, you know, world in which this happens.

Do you anticipate running into similar issues with AI?

... and they're saying things are expensive?

Well, this is an easy one.

There's three ways you help people.

One, you help them earn more, and w- for Ohioans, that means stop shipping our jobs off to China and allowing people to have unfair trade deals with us.

Sherrod Brown voted literally to let, uh, China in the World Trade Organization.

That allowed them to take away the manufacturing jobs of those very people, ship them off to China.

Now we're fixing that.

... ask you the question pointedly.

Will there ever be peace in Iran? Any gut feeling on that? I mean, it seems like the Iranians, they'll make all the deals in the world, and three days later, you can't trust them.

Well, you know, who's in charge in Iran is the real problem that we need to get to.

But I think the president is really pushing aggressively towards getting a deal.

They're trying to force Iran to the table.

They're trying to basically give them a carrot and stick that if you open the Strait of Hormuz, if you make a deal on not developing a nuclear weapon, then you can have restoration of access to the financial markets.

and begin to sell your oil and begin to rebuild your nation.

But, you know, they're a tough group to negotiate with right now because it's hard to know who's really in charge.

What else do you want to tell the American people on today's Wednesday already?

Will there ever be peace in Iran? Any gut feeling on that? I mean, it seems like the Iranians, they'll make all the deals in the world, and three days later, you can't trust them.

Well, you know, who's in charge in Iran is the real problem that we need to get to.

But I think the president is really pushing aggressively towards getting a deal.

They're trying to force Iran to the table.

They're trying to basically give them a carrot and stick that if you open the Strait of Hormuz, if you make a deal on not developing a nuclear weapon, then you can have restoration of access to the financial markets.

and begin to sell your oil and begin to rebuild your nation.

But, you know, it's a tough group to negotiate with right now because it's hard to know who's really in charge.

What else do you want to tell the American people on today's Wednesday already?

Senator, are you in favor of the U.S. action in Iran?

We're at the dignified transfer with those families and just want to honor their service and also congratulate all the men and women of our United States Armed Forces who are doing a tremendous job at taking the leading state sponsor of terrorism and dismantling their ability to make war.

Uh, the, the, uh, efforts of our military in Iran have been outstanding.

And, uh, now, uh, we'll just wait and see what comes next.

If they're going to want to seek peace and find a better way for their nation and for the people who live in Iran or whether or not they're going to continue to, to be, um, a sponsor of terrorism and somebody who doesn't really want to be part of what I would call a more civilized society.

If they want to be terrorists, then they'll continue to do what they're doing.

If not, I hope that the president and some interim government in Iran can find a way to seek peace.

When you say finish it, do you mean regime change plus destruction of

What would you like to see happen here?

Well, we need to make sure that the investigation is impartial, that ultimately everyone has access to all the evidence that's used to determine what happens going forward.

I think that transparency of that process is what builds trust.

And we do need to see more cooperation between state and local authorities.

I know in Ohio, in almost every place, if there is a local arrest of somebody who has committed a crime and they're in this country illegally, they turn those individuals over to ICE.

In Minneapolis and other places, that's not happening.

We need to see that happen so that we can, basically, we don't need these ICE enforcements because there is more cooperation between federal and local officials.

And I wonder, are you still confident in the leadership of Christine Noem of DHS right now?