ICYMI: Ohioans In Ironton Rally Against Jon Husted For Bringing Hundreds of Data Centers to Ohio

ICYMI: Ohioans In Ironton Rally Against Jon Husted For Bringing Hundreds of Data Centers to Ohio

October 1, 2026

Husted described as the "face of data centers" in Ohio

IRONTON, OHIO - In case you missed it, Ironton City Councilman Jacob Hock and Ohioans facing skyrocketing electric bills rallied against Jon Husted for his record of bringing hundreds of data centers to Ohio while local communities were left with the bill.

Jon Husted blames Ohioans for data centers, telling listeners in a recent interview that "we are the problem." While Husted blames families and local communities, Ohio electric bills are now projected to be over $800 for the summer - a massive increase - and Google is building a massive data center in Scioto County.

See For Yourself:

WOWK: Ohioans rally against U.S. Senator Jon Husted's support of data centers

• On Tuesday, a rally took place in Ironton where residents rallied against U.S. Senator Jon Husted.

• Anne Artis is a Lawrence County resident who said that the energy used by data centers coming to the area is already raising her electric bill.

• "It worries me because I'm on a fixed income. I'm a senior citizen and I have a yeah, I worry. I worry about what's going to happen to me or how I'm going to have to. My quality of life is going to go down as all these prices rise," Artis said.

• That's why she is worried about data centers, like the one being built in Franklin Furnace in Scioto County.

• It's also why she attended the rally against Senator Husted, who has been called the "face of data centers" by Sherrod Brown supporters after Husted's past support for data centers in Ohio.

• Husted supports the "Ratepayer Protection Act," which he said "would keep America globally competitive while protecting Ohioans and Americans from higher electricity bills"

• But at Tuesday's rally, residents disagreed.

• "The Ratepayer Protection Act does nothing to require big tech companies to do something about electricity rates and water bills and noise pollution. It makes suggestions to Ohio regulators," Ironton resident Bob McCollister said.

• Jacob Hock with the Ironton City Council has been working and speaking out for over a year against data centers in southeastern Ohio.

• "People around here are just really tired of being taken advantage of. And, you know, I think that the data center is just the perfect representation of that. Yeah, they're put here because no one else wants them," Hock said.

WCHS: Data-center concerns bring ratepayer rally to Ironton

• Democrats rallied in Ironton Tuesday to protest data-center development and its supporters, pointing to concerns about how large projects could affect the power grid and what that could mean for ratepayers.

• "I feel like we're all in the dark about exactly what's going on, how it is going to affect us," said Ironton resident Anne Artis. "The only thing we can look at is people or communities that already have a data center and see what it's done to their quality of life."

• The latest project drawing attention is a proposed billion-dollar Google data center in Scioto County, along with a new AEP substation intended to support it.

• Jacob Hock, an Ironton City Council member, said the development has left him uneasy.

• "Every time I look at that development, it's a pit in my stomach," Hock said.

• At Tuesday's rally, Democratic leaders also focused their criticism on U.S. Sen. Jon Husted. While serving as Ohio's lieutenant governor, Husted promoted the state as a destination for data-center investment, according to speakers at the event.

• "Jon Husted is the face of data centers and wants to rewrite his record with this. I just feel like it's disingenuous and you know he's the reason that a lot of them are here," Hock said.

• Husted now backs the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would have state regulators consider rules aimed at making large power users pay for the energy and infrastructure they need.

• McCollister criticized the proposal, saying, "The Ratepayer Protection Act does nothing to require big tech companies to do something about electricity rates and water bills and noise pollution. It makes suggestions to Ohio regulators, in our case the PUCO, to think about doing something. It is a band-aid, a toothless bill and it will not have any effect."

• Artis said she worries about the impact of any future increases on people already struggling to pay their bills.

• "I'm fearful for people who can't pay them now. You know? Once something goes up, it rarely comes back down," she said. "You have to really, really fight for it."

Ironton Tribune: Group calls out Husted on data centers

• The topic of data centers is one of the major issues in this year's midterm elections and, on Tuesday, a group gathered at the Rotary Fountain in Ironton to host a rally, at which they took issue with the record of U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, on the subject.

• Ironton City Council member Jacob Hock said the state's leadership had "rolled out the red carpet for the richest companies in the world" to build the facilities in Ohio.

• "And Jon Husted was first in line to take credit," Hock said of Husted, who the group said, as lieutenant governor, had been key in the effort to give tax abatements to companies building data centers.

• Hock took issue with legislation, The Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed the House in September and is sponsored by Husted, which he said was a "toothless bill" that did not address the issue.

• "He wants us to believe he is going to put limits on data centers," Hock said.

• Hock said the legislation does not require data centers to stop raising utility costs, but instead only requires state regulators to consider regulations.

• "The best he can offer is a suggestion," Hock said, calling Husted's effort, which he noted was supported by Amazon, Google and Microsoft, "disingenuous."

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