Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) is rejecting the class warfare-fueled campaign of ex-Sen. Sherrod Brown as the two battle for blue-collar votes in Ohio’s marquee Senate race.
Husted, appointed last year to replace Vice President JD Vance in the Senate, has a simple message for the more than 600,000 union members who live and work in Ohio and could prove decisive to his race against Brown this fall: “Businesses have to succeed for labor to succeed.”
“The UAW can’t succeed unless GM succeeds and Ford succeeds,” he told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “The construction trades can’t succeed unless there’s new investment in manufacturing equipment. The operating engineers can’t succeed unless there’s an investment in infrastructure.”
Husted, who is campaigning heavily on President Donald Trump’s signature tax law, is making a pro-business pitch that the labor movement has traditionally viewed with skepticism, and one that Brown, who is attempting a political comeback after losing his Senate seat in 2024, has criticized as a handout to the rich.
But Husted is betting that Brown’s message, which casts the political moment as a struggle between corporations and their workers, will fall flat as rank-and-file union members show a growing willingness to back Republicans.
Almost half of Ohio’s union households voted for President Donald Trump in the last presidential election, according to 2024 exit polling, while labor leaders have begun to defect from Brown, too. Most recently, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers announced its support for Husted, marking the fourth union to switch sides in the race to date.
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“They know they can count on me,” Husted said. “They can trust me, that I have worked with both business and labor to show them that we don’t have to fight over the pie like Sherrod Brown wants to do, that we can grow the pie, and everybody can get more work, higher wages, and see growth in their businesses when we all work together.”
Husted is pointing to his long reputation in the state to explain the labor endorsements. His career in Ohio politics extends back to the early 2000s, and he served six years as Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R-OH) lieutenant governor before his appointment to the Senate last January.
Husted also benefits from a rightward shift in Ohio’s voting electorate that has made statewide office increasingly difficult to obtain for Democrats. Brown, in fact, was the only statewide Democrat when he was ousted in 2024, losing to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) by 3.5 points.
With almost two dozen union endorsements so far, Brown still enjoys broad labor support and a decadeslong reputation in Ohio. He served three terms in the Senate and another seven in the House, developing a unique brand of economic populism that helped him defy political gravity for years.
But Husted is hoping to use Brown’s long tenure in Congress against him, framing national endorsements from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and others as a sign the “Washington” union leaders are behind him.
“He’s getting the people who are in Washington. I’m getting the folks that are in Ohio,” Husted said.
Husted is also putting the working-class deductions at the forefront of how he messages Trump’s tax law, reflecting Republicans’ efforts to marry their traditional support for business with a legislative agenda that reaches lower-income voters.
“If the Democrats would have had their way,” Husted said, “working families would have seen a $3,500 tax hike. Instead, they’re going to see a $7,000 net benefit, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, tax cuts for Social Security, a $2,200 per child tax credit, which definitely helps working families in our state.”
Brown’s allies are pursuing the same strategy in reverse, capitalizing on Husted’s time in the Senate to accuse him of saddling Ohio workers with “higher bills and rising healthcare costs.”
Democrats are highlighting the law’s new work requirements for Medicaid, along with a set of deductions they say disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
“Husted has cut taxes for corporations and made it more profitable than ever to ship American jobs overseas,” said Austin Keyser, the Electrical Workers vice president. “Ohio needs a senator who will stand up for its workers, not bow down to billionaires.”
A tidal wave of support for Trump helped Republicans defeat Brown in 2024 — Brown outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris by 2.5 points and plans to run a similar playbook this cycle, banking on his carefully calibrated reputation as a Democrat who values the “dignity of work.”
But Husted believes that image has already been cracked and that he can win without Trump at the top of the ticket, pointing to his 25-point victory as lieutenant governor in 2022. He also benefits from a clear path to the GOP nomination, something Moreno and even Vance weren’t afforded in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
The most recent polls show a toss-up race between Husted and Brown, but political forecasters generally see Husted as the one to beat.
“We’re already starting to pile up endorsements that didn’t happen in those races until way in the summer,” Husted said. “We’re going to be ready to go. We’re going to have the wind at our back, and we’re not going to have been beaten up, having had to go through a difficult primary.”
Trump’s actions as president have complicated Husted’s outreach to blue-collar voters. In a rare break with the administration, Husted questioned its decision to freeze funds that support manufacturing programs in January.
“I’ve just asked for answers to those questions, because there have been allegations of misuse of those funds, and if that’s true, then I want people held accountable,” Husted said.
“But I also think they have the right to defend themselves, and I want to make sure that whatever is being alleged, that they have a chance to respond to that,” he added.
Trump also hobbled the National Labor Relations Board, which helps settle labor disputes, for most of last year, prompting outcry from union leaders who say his new picks are more pro-business.
Still, Trump has created a road map for Republicans to expand their coalition of support into traditionally Democratic voting bases and has pursued policies once championed by the Left.
In terms of Trump’s embrace of tariffs, Husted accused Brown of flip-flopping: “You know, he used to be for tariffs when Joe Biden was supporting them, but he’s not for tariffs, apparently, when Donald Trump’s for them.”
“We have to get fair trade deals for America. They’re a tool in negotiating fair trade deals,” Husted added.
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Nationally, Trump is navigating a decadeslong decline in manufacturing, but job losses in Ohio have largely rebounded from a sharp downturn in 2009.
“I know that the president is working very hard, along with his trade team, to get those fair trade deals, because that will help put more Americans back to work,” Husted said.