By Bo Erickson and Nandita Bose
VANDALIA, Ohio, Oct 3 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump used an Ohio rally on Saturday to mix profane attacks on Democrats with promises of financial help if Republicans win the midterms and a warning that he would be less willing to work with the state if Democrats prevail.
“Just get out and vote,” Trump said at a rally for Republican candidates, including US Senator Jon Husted and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. “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 ass.”
Multiple incumbent Republican senators across the country face tough political headwinds in the November 3 elections, with Trump’s popularity falling in recent months as higher prices persist for gasoline and other staples amid the US-Israeli war with Iran. Both Husted and Ramaswamy are in competitive races against Democratic opponents.
Former US Senator Sherrod Brown is running against Husted. Amy Acton is facing Ramaswamy.
OHIO A KEY STATE IN MIDTERMS
Polls have suggested that Democrats could gain ground in the midterms, which will decide control of the narrowly divided House of Representatives and Senate, but Trump said Republicans would do better than critics expect. “I think we’re going to have a big surprise because they don’t know what’s happening,” he told the crowd in Vandalia, Ohio.
Ohio’s is among eight US Senate races rated competitive. The state has turned into a campaign battlefield over data centers and culture war issues such as youth transgender surgeries.
Trump repeatedly attacked Democrats during his speech, at one point calling them “dumb son of a bitches,” while arguing that maintaining Republican control would give Ohio officials a direct line to his administration and make it easier for the state to secure federal help.
He said Ohio’s elected Republican officials frequently call him seeking money for the state, adding that he would be less inclined to accommodate Democrats if they win key races. Referring to Acton, Trump said: “But I’m not going to help her.”
Husted is counting on Trump to motivate supporters who might otherwise skip the midterms, but the senator also directly criticized Brown, a veteran Democrat, as someone who has accomplished little in his political career. “He’s been in office for 50 years — can you name one thing that he has done for you?” Husted said at the rally.
A spokesperson for Brown’s campaign criticized Husted for backing Trump’s policy on Iran and said Husted supported “sweetheart tax deals” that lured data centers to Ohio.
“Jon Husted puts corporations and billionaires first every time, and we all pay for it,” Brown spokesperson Lauren Chou said in an email to Reuters.
Trump garnered more than 55% of the Ohio vote in the 2024 presidential election, but economic concerns since then have sunk his approval ratings.
Ohio gasoline prices increased 35% over the past year to $4.16 per gallon on average, according to AAA, which compiles data on automobile travel. Trump’s trade policy with Canada has led to retaliatory Canadian tariffs that affect about $3 billion worth of Ohio exports, based on 2025 figures, according to a CBC report.
DEBATE ON DATA CENTERS
Talking to reporters shortly before addressing Saturday’s rally, Husted said the US has to win the Iran war “on our terms” and in the interim, he is “showing people that I’m fighting for lower prices.”
He spoke to a sympathetic crowd at the rally, but he also needs to sell his message to people like independent voter Jonathan Smith.
Smith, a 19-year-old construction worker, held a sign reading, “Where are my lower gas prices?” outside his former high school in Vandalia, north of Dayton.
“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,” said Smith, adding he is still deciding whom to vote for in the Senate race.
Outside political groups have poured tens of millions of dollars into Ohio, making Husted-Brown the second-most-expensive Senate race in the country, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Rallygoers shared mixed opinions on the hot-button issue of data centers in the state.
“I’m not huge on the AI data centers,” Samuel Clevenger, 20, said when discussing Husted’s candidacy. But the apprentice plumber said he was encouraged to vote by Trump’s attention to the state, as well as his 2025 policy capping taxes on overtime.
On the other side of the rally venue, Brenda White, 60, held a sign encouraging building in her northeastern Ohio town: “DATA CENTER SOUTH LORAIN.”
As Husted met voters in the bleachers, she urged the senator to support the center’s construction in place of a steel mill. “You want a data center there?” Husted asked.
Before White posed for her photo with Husted, a man in the senator’s entourage asked: “Can we do it without the sign?”
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Nandita Bose; Editing by Sergio Non, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Rod Nickel, Deepa Babington and William Mallard)
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