Outside groups have spent tens of millions of dollars on Ohio’s competitive U.S. Senate race as workers face layoffs and rising costs. On Saturday, President Donald Trump campaigned at Butler High School in Vandalia, where Republicans are trying to keep their narrow congressional majority and defend Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio’s seat.
Chris Gibbs, a Shelby County farmer, said Husted had stayed silent while farmers struggled to afford basic necessities. A couple dozen people gathered in a small park near the school to protest and promote Husted’s opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
A costly contest, ordinary bills
The Husted-Brown contest ranks as the country’s second-most-expensive Senate race, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Ohio is one of eight U.S. Senate races rated competitive, and outside political groups have spent tens of millions of dollars in the state.
Hundreds of supporters lined up outside the school hours before Trump’s scheduled 7 p.m. speech. The event began at 5:30 p.m., according to the Republican National Committee. Trump was expected to appear with Husted and other GOP politicians as Republicans tried to energize voters before the midterm elections.
Gas prices in Ohio had climbed 35% over the previous year, reaching an average of $4.16 a gallon, according to AAA. Retaliatory Canadian tariffs tied to Trump’s trade policy with Canada affect about $3 billion worth of Ohio exports, based on 2025 figures, according to a CBC report.
Trump’s approval rating in Ohio stood at about 35%, according to a Suffolk University/USA TODAY Ohio Network poll. A Marist poll put him at 42% among registered Ohio voters. Reuters reported that Trump won more than 55% of Ohio’s vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Campaign promises and political limits
Before the rally, Husted told reporters he expected Iran to seek a peace deal and gasoline prices to fall after the Nov. 3 election. “They want to maximize the pain for President Trump, but they’re also very wary about the consequences,” Husted said of Iran. “I fully expect Iran is going to want to bring this to an end as soon as the midterms are over.”
Husted accused Democrats of talking about affordability without acting. Senate Democrats recently blocked his legislation requiring states to consider making data centers pay for their power; critics said the bill lacked enough consumer protections.
“There’s more work to do,” Husted said. “We need to lower prices on groceries, gasoline − there’s no doubt about that. But people don’t want to turn the clock back to what Biden, Harris and Sherrod Brown had to offer.” The GOP-controlled Ohio Legislature fast-tracked a bill to suspend the state’s gas tax for 90 days.
Brown’s campaign sent a mobile billboard outside the rally to criticize Husted over gas prices. “Jon Husted voted 14 times for the reckless war in Iran that has caused the cost of gas and diesel to hit record highs,” Brown said in a statement. “Ohioans deserve a senator who will put them first, not one who sides with billionaires and corporations and makes them foot the bill.”
The Ohio Democratic Party organized the nearby gathering to criticize Republican policies associated with Husted and Trump and to back Kristina Knickerbocker, a Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Mike Turner in the Dayton area. Signs read “Husted, we have a problem” and “We the people are pissed.” Mary Winfree, 69, of Fairborn, said, “It must be a sign of desperation that he has to go to these red states to shore up the vote.”
Jobs at the bottom of the ledger
The Dispatch reported inflation remained at 3.4%, while Friday’s jobs report showed unemployment rising to 4.2%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the United States added 29,000 jobs in September, fewer than expected.
Packaging Corporation of America planned to lay off about 90 employees as part of a plant closure in Middletown. According to a state filing, most employees would leave its Baltimore Street plant on Dec. 1. “This was a difficult business decision,” the company’s attorney, Mark Romaniuk, wrote in an Oct. 1 filing. “It is in no way a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our valued employees.”
Nearly 1,400 workers also lost their jobs at what had been the Navistar truck factory in southwestern Ohio. The Springfield layoffs nearly wiped out a year of job growth across the greater Dayton area, the Associated Press reported. Kyle Bos, a centrist and United Auto Workers member who had voted for Trump three times, told the AP he planned to vote for Democrats in November. “Something has to change politically in this country. Seems like it just kept getting worse and worse and worse.”
At the rally, American flags lined the road, food trucks served supporters, and four high school students played cornhole beside the line. The campaign offered voters a familiar ballot choice; outside its stage, prices were rising, tariffs were affecting exports, and workers were losing their jobs.