Husted discusses jobs, energy and economy during local stop
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STEUBENVILLE -- Reaching out to residents from all parts of Ohio is important to Jon Husted.
“If you’re going to represent the state, you’ve got to be in all parts of the state,” Husted said Tuesday. “I don’t want anyone to feel neglected or left behind, and when you go to a place, you see how things are doing. You can read statistics in newspaper articles, but you have to see it with your own eyes to really understand and represent it.”
The Republican senator was in town to speak with supporters at a private event at the 7 Ranges Entertainment Center in the Fort Steuben Mall. In an interview before the meeting, Husted discussed topics ranging from why Eastern Ohio seems to miss out on economic development occurring in other parts of the state to workforce training and the state of the economy.
Derek Ferguson, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, said it’s important for candidates to stop in the area.
“It’s great for our area that candidates want to stop here,” Ferguson said. “We want to show them there is support for them in this part of the state, and that we do care about the election.”
Husted is being challenged by Democrat Sherrod Brown in the Nov. 3 election. Brown is looking to return to the Senate, where he served three terms before losing a re-election bid to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024. Husted and Brown are running to complete the last two years of the seat that had been held by J.D. Vance before he became vice president.
Husted, who had been serving as lieutenant governor at the time, was appointed to the Senate seat by Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025.
Libertarian William B. Redpath also is seeking the seat.
“There are a lot of things that go into economic development,” Husted said. “Why does economic development matter to begin with? Well, because you want people to have good jobs. That’s the only reason it matters. You want people to have good jobs. You want to have local tax revenue so that you can fund your roads, your schools and things like that. That’s why economic development is important.
“Having a great workforce is important, as is having sites where things can be located,” he added. “One of the challenges with some of the eastern and southern parts of Ohio is the topography. You don’t have a lot of large, flat tracts of land to put big manufacturing facilities on and things like that.”
There are, however, strengths in the region.
“You have something here that those places don’t have, which is access to natural resources,” Husted continued. “It’s figuring out how you use those natural resources to the benefit of the community. That’s why, to be candid, the closing of the Sammis plant was a bad thing.”
Husted was referring to the 2023 shutdown of the W.H. Sammis Plant in Stratton. Energy Harbor, the plant’s owner, made the decision to shutter the coal-fired generating plant while shifting its focus to carbon-free nuclear plants that were more compliant with federal environmental regulations.
FirstEnergy Generation, which was the plant’s owner, had said as early as 2016 that it planned to retire four of the seven units at the Sammis complex, with then-company President Jim Lash saying challenging market conditions made it no longer viable to operate the facilities.
At its peak, it generated about 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, employed hundreds of area residents and produced tax revenue. Its demolition is nearly complete.
“Federal environmental policies that took place under Sherrod Brown and Joe Biden closed that plant,” Husted said. “It wasn’t scheduled to be closed until 2028, and its early closing hurt for a number of reasons -- jobs and the effect on energy prices, because if you close down the place that produces energy, what does that do to supply and demand? It drives prices up, and that’s how government gets in the way.
“That’s one of the things I’m most critical of Brown over is that there were 23 power plants closed under his watch, under the Biden and Obama administrations. That hurts places like this,” he added.
Brown’s campaign disagreed about the causes behind higher prices.
“Husted doesn’t want to talk about the real reason Ohioans are paying thousands of dollars more in utility bills: He led the charge to bring data centers to Ohio and played a central role in the largest bribery scandal in the state’s history that raised utility rates by thousands of dollars for Ohioans. Husted puts billionaires and corporations before hard-working families, and Ohioans are footing the bill,” campaign spokesperson Samar Ahmad said.
According to The Associated Press, Husted has not been accused of or charged with wrongdoing in connection with the state’s long-running $60 million bribery scandal that involved FirstEnergy, state officials and others.
Husted explained that the area’s unemployment rate is at low levels, adding that making sure residents have access to facilities such as career centers that can provide training for in-demand jobs is critical to convincing possible employers there is a good workforce in the area. That can help strengthen the community.
“When I graduated from high school, where I grew up, the factory my dad worked at closed, the unemployment rate was 8 percent and people, your children and grandchildren, move away when that happens. I don’t want that to happen anywhere in Ohio,” Husted explained.
That’s why programs like those offered at the Jefferson County Joint Vocational School for students and adults, and the TechCred program he created while serving as lieutenant governor, are important. Under that program, any adult in the state can earn an in-demand credential for free, as long as they are sponsored by their employer.
Husted said he is as frustrated as anyone about the high cost of just about everything.
“I don’t want people to pay higher gas prices,” he said. “I want Iran to stop bombing ships in the Middle East and get oil and gas prices back down. There are other prices, too, and that’s why closing those power plants is a problem.”
Those rising costs were behind his support of the Working Family Tax Cut Plan, he added.
“One way you help people make things more affordable is by letting them keep more of what they earn to spend on their priorities,” Husted said. “If you are an average family of four making $80,000 a year in Ohio, it’s a net $6,000 tax cut, including a $2,200 per child tax credit, as well as no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime and cutting taxes on Social Security. All of those are incredibly important in helping people afford things.”