Jon Husted
United States Senator
39
APPEARANCES
18
PODCASTS
Oct 10, 2026
Jon HustedGUEST
Well, he's flailing and he's desperate because he spent over 50 years in office and has I do this when I go out and I talk to voters.
Jon HustedGUEST
Can you name one thing he's actually done to make your life better? And it's always greeted with silence, except occasionally someone says, yes, he lost two years ago.
Jon HustedGUEST
But this is a guy who's been in office since 1975, was in Washington for 32 years.
Peter DoocyHOST
So is that what this Ohio race is about, keeping the Democrats out as opposed to keeping Republicans in?
John HustedGUEST
I think it's about us telling our story of what we've done to fight for working families.
John HustedGUEST
Look, in Ohio, it was just announced this week we have the lowest unemployment rate and the most jobs in Ohio history.
John HustedGUEST
No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, $2,200 tax credit for working families with children.
Donald TrumpSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
On her way to work one morning, down the path along the lake, a tender-hearted woman saw
28 MINS LATER
Donald TrumpSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Could I ask John Houston just to come forward and say a few words, please? USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
Jon HustedGUEST
He won two years ago by 11 points, and are we going to show him by electing me that he's doing the right thing and that we're going to get a victory in November? So, Mr.
speaker_6UNKNOWN
way i know don't stop till everything's gone straight ahead never turn around don't back up don't back down a full throttle wide open you get tired and you don't show it take a little deeper when you think you can't dig no more that's the only way i know
John HustedGUEST
And if you recall, we won a national championship when I was here, so that was a lot of fun to get to see those guys.
2 HRS 44 MINS LATER
Donald TrumpSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Could I ask John Husted just to come forward and say a few words, please? Husted! Husted! Husted! Husted!
Brian KilmeadeHOST
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?
John HustedGUEST
And literally this week, we set a record for the lowest unemployment rate in the history of Ohio, 3.3%.
Hugh HewittHOST
Can you tell me what it's about and why it couldn't get out of the Senate despite getting out of the House, which is kind of unusual?
Jon HustedGUEST
[chuckles] Well, the Ratepayer Protection Act, uh, makes data centers pay for all their power utility generation rather than passing it on to the ratepayers, which would ultimately lower electricity prices for residential customers.
Jon HustedGUEST
That's what it does, holds the data centers accountable, something that is widely supported across the country.
Jon HustedGUEST
Look, everybody says that we don't want data centers to drive up electric buses.
Jon HustedGUEST
They're fine with this legislation because they're like, yes, let's go, let's put the rules in place, and then we'll work with local communities to build that infrastructure.
5 MINS LATER
Scott JenningsHOST
Do you have any message for the people of Ohio when it comes to gas prices as it relates to which of the two parties has a better energy policy, say, for over the next 6, 12, 18 months to actually bring gas prices down?
Jon HustedGUEST
Look, everybody says that we don't want data centers to drive up electric buses.
Jon HustedGUEST
They're fine with this legislation because they're like, yes, let's go, let's put the rules in place, and then we'll work with local communities to build that infrastructure.
5 MINS LATER
Scott JenningsHOST
Do you have any message for the people of Ohio when it comes to gas prices as it relates to which of the two parties has a better energy policy, say, for over the next 6, 12, 18 months to actually bring gas prices down?
Ryan NoblesHOST
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.
John HustedGUEST
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.
John HustedGUEST
And we hope to get that done because that's something that Democrats, Republicans, uh, in the House agreed upon.
Ryan NoblesHOST
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?
Jon HustedGUEST
People see their electric prices going up, uh, and because data centers use a lot of electricity, the two are being connected.
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, and, you know, sometimes, uh, uh, I mean, in people's minds, they think electric prices are going up because data centers are using more energy.
Jon HustedGUEST
And really, it, it's something that I've never seen a convergence so quickly around an issue that both consumers and businesses agree upon.
Jon HustedGUEST
Whether you're Democrat, Republican, or Independent, you think, "Yeah, we really don't want data centers to, to pay the freight for any new data centers." If, uh, you're the president, President Trump, he doesn't believe that we should pay the freight, that, that consumers should pay the rate for new data centers.
Matt WhitlockHOST
Um, how shocked were you when Martin Heinrich came and objected to this when it seemed like something everybody [laughs] agrees with in principle?
Scott JenningsHOST
I want you to take us inside this issue and the mechanics going on over in the Senate right now.
Jon HustedGUEST
Yeah, well, Americans are concerned that data centers are being built, and that's going to jack up their electricity prices.
Jon HustedGUEST
The Ratepayer Protection Act will require the data center companies to build and pay for all of the electric infrastructure that's needed to run that data center, protecting the American consumer.
Jon HustedGUEST
The House unbelievably passed the same exact – my bill, same exact legislation – 417 to three, which never happens, right? Like amazing bipartisan vote.
Jon HustedGUEST
And so all I had to do is get this through the Senate to get it to the president's desk and make it law.
Chuck WarrenHOST
You have gone and proposed a bill regarding college sports, and talk to our audience about what you hope the bill will accomplish.
Jon HustedGUEST
Well, if you're talking about LSU, the Lane Kiffin situation there has helped encourage Congress to act to, quote, save college sports, right? We have NIL, we have transfer portals, we have pro athletes trying to transfer back in and play college athletes.
Jon HustedGUEST
So Congress is being asked by college institutions to save college sports by putting guardrails around this whole thing.
Jon HustedGUEST
But I want to make sure that we're looking out for American student athletes because there's been a growing number of roster spots and scholarships that have been taken by student athletes from other countries.
Jon HustedGUEST
You look at tennis teams and golf teams, soccer, hockey, rosters full of foreign athletes taking away opportunities from American citizens.
Jon HustedGUEST
You take the Paris Olympics of 2024 Of NCA affiliated athletes participating in the Paris Olympics, 63% of those NCA affiliated athletes represented other countries in the Olympics.
Chuck WarrenHOST
Can you tell our audience what is the genesis of this bill? I can't believe there are 17 states that actually provide licenses.
Brian KilmeadeHOST
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.
John HustedGUEST
I've introduced legislation in the Senate to cap the number of roster spots from foreign athletes in American colleges and universities.
5 MINS LATER
John HustedGUEST
But there's a little reminder that happened tragically in Ohio over the last 10 days.
John HustedGUEST
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.
John HustedGUEST
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.
Hugh HewittHOST
So what do you think you can get done when it comes to NIL and student-athletes, Senator Houston?
Jon HustedGUEST
Well, we got NIL passed in the Senate yesterday, at least the cloture vote got 74 votes for it.
Jon HustedGUEST
But my main concern is that we're being asked as Congress to save college sports, yet more and more college rosters are full of student athletes from other countries.
Jon HustedGUEST
Literally, there are programs, tennis, golf, soccer, hockey, where almost the entire roster is made up of people from other countries.
Jon HustedGUEST
And if you do NIL and you put all of this new money in there to make it more lucrative, you're going to have more and more pro athletes from Asia and Europe and other places take college roster spots away from American citizens.
Hugh HewittHOST
Did you talk to The Ohio State University people and other great universities in Ohio before you did this? Do they think it's a good idea?
Major GarrettHOST
Practically speaking, do you believe you can manufacture momentum and enthusiasm?
Jon HustedGUEST
Well, I think it's an opportunity for us to explain what we've been doing to try to help make life more affordable for the working families of our country.
Jon HustedGUEST
No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, cutting taxes on Social Security, child tax credits for working families, putting more pockets, more money in their pockets rather than sending it off to Washington.
Jon HustedGUEST
That's what American families need to keep more money in their pockets to spend and save on their priorities.
Jon HustedGUEST
We used to be a net electricity exporter, now we're an importer because he and the radical climate change crowd worked to close 23 power plants in Ohio.
Jon HustedGUEST
He was part of the open border crowd, right? Said that Republicans were making up the crisis at the border.
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, of course, uh, that led to, you know, uh, uh, an invasion of our country from people illegal, then, uh, illegal aliens.
Hugh HewittHOST
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?
John HustedGUEST
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.
John HustedGUEST
Again, we're just trying to treat kids in the – Digital world, same way you do in the physical world.
John HustedGUEST
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.
John HustedGUEST
And we know that because Instagram and other places are creating teen accounts.
John HustedGUEST
We know that they have the ability to determine these things, and we know that it's possible.
6 MINS LATER
Hugh HewittHOST
Anything that needs explaining about that bill to the audience, Senator Houston?
Brian KilmeadeHOST
They're talking about unfreezing funds, about 24 billion of the 100 billion, and immediately, uh, we've already heard from Reuters today that the Hezbollah has been contacted from the Iranians saying, "Money is coming your direction." And how does that lead to not m- more unrest in Israel?
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, it is a framework for opening the Strait of Hormuz, trying to restore some economic stability to the world, and then continuing the negotiations.
Brian KilmeadeHOST
How'd it get there, and what do you, what does your housing act that you can support, what would it do?
Unknown podcast
A Delicate Deal: Will the U.S.-Iran Agreement Reshape the Middle East?
Jun 16 · 33m
19:39
Tell us, does this extend to like romantic conversations as well? Where's the line here?
Jon HustedGUEST
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, that the big tech companies have not protected our children.
Jon HustedGUEST
And so I've leaned in on this on social media, on algorithms that target our kids, on things like sextortion and other things that have targeted our kids.
Jon HustedGUEST
where people can impersonate children and sort of promote this sick, evil concept of sexually explicit activity with children in an AI space.
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, I have a, a long record of, of success in Ohio, creating jobs, helping people get workforce skills, doing innovation, cutting government waste and fraud, so, you know, the, the voters know that.
Jon HustedGUEST
And remember, they just fired him two years ago by more votes than anybody has ever been fired from a job in the state of Ohio history.
Jon HustedGUEST
But look, w- we have success in having business groups that have never endorsed in a US Senate race endorsing me.
6 MINS LATER
Hugh HewittHOST
Does the Ohio Jewish community, which is significant, very significant in Cleveland, very significant in Columbus, very significant in Cincinnati, do they know that you're a friend of the Jewish state?
Brian KilmeadeHOST
So what do you think should happen in, you know, with all these JPMorgan, Meta, and all these other companies, Boeing? What do you hope happens? What, what do you worry could happen?
Jon HustedGUEST
Look, I represent Ohio, so what I hope happens is that we get a fair trade deal out of it.
Jon HustedGUEST
W- w- look, w- we're at, we're at a, a disadvantage in the sense that China has things like the precursors for our pharmaceuticals, rare earth materials that we can't make batteries or bombs without in many cases.
Jon HustedGUEST
but they d- they lack the sophisticated technology that, uh, that m- many of our companies have.
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, China, uh, what I wanna see come out of is just a fair trade deal, the w- where they're not subsidizing their industries, uh, that they're not dumping products in American markets, and they're opening up their markets to American products, particularly agriculture.
8 MINS LATER
Brian KilmeadeHOST
... to talk to you about your re-election, but I can't, 'cause you're in your Senate office, but your thoughts on the war?
Brian KilmeadeHOST
So what do you think should happen in, you know, with all these J.P. Morgan, Meta, and all these other companies, Boeing? What do you hope happens? What do, what do you worry could happen?
Jon HustedGUEST
Look, I represent Ohio, so what I hope happens is that we get a fair trade deal out of it.
Jon HustedGUEST
W- w- look, w- we're at, we're in aA, a disadvantage in the sense that China has things like the precursors for our pharmaceuticals, rare earth materials that we can't make batteries or bombs without in many cases.
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, it- but they d- they lack the sophisticated technology that, uh, that m- many of our companies have.
Jon HustedGUEST
Uh, China, uh, what I wanna see come out of is just a fair trade deal, the w- where they're not subsidizing their industries, uh, that they're not dumping products in American markets, and they're opening up their markets to American products, particularly agriculture.
Jon HustedGUEST
A- and, and also that when Americans make investments in China, those investments are protected, that they don't have to turn over their technology to the government or, or, or Chinese businesses.
6 MINS LATER
20:53
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.
John HustedGUEST
Well, you know, who's in charge in Iran is the real problem that we need to get to.
John HustedGUEST
But I think the president is really pushing aggressively towards getting a deal.
John HustedGUEST
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.
John HustedGUEST
But, you know, they're a tough group to negotiate with right now because it's hard to know who's really in charge.
23:42
What else do you want to tell the American people on today's Wednesday already?
speaker_1HOST
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.
John HustedGUEST
Well, you know, who's in charge in Iran is the real problem that we need to get to.
John HustedGUEST
But I think the president is really pushing aggressively towards getting a deal.
John HustedGUEST
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.
John HustedGUEST
But, you know, it's a tough group to negotiate with right now because it's hard to know who's really in charge.
speaker_1HOST
What else do you want to tell the American people on today's Wednesday already?
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