The person behind the name
Jon Husted’s public career runs from the Ohio House, which he led as Speaker, through two terms as secretary of state and six years as lieutenant governor to the U.S. Senate seat he was appointed to fill when JD Vance became vice president.
Husted was born in 1967 and, by his official biography, started his life in a foster home before being adopted by Jim and Judy Husted; he is the oldest of three children and was raised in Williams County in northwest Ohio, where he graduated from Montpelier High School. He and his wife, Tina, raised three children, Alex, Kylie and Katie, and make their home in Columbus. On January 17, 2025 Governor Mike DeWine announced him as his appointee to succeed JD Vance, who had resigned to become vice president; at the time, the Statehouse News Bureau reported, Husted had filed to run for governor in 2026 with DeWine’s backing. He was sworn in to the Senate on January 21, 2025. [3][1][29][4]
Education and professional preparation
His official biography reports a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Dayton, where he was an All-American defensive back on the team that won the 1989 Division III football national championship. After earning his master’s degree he stayed in the Miami Valley as vice president for economic development at the Dayton-Area Chamber of Commerce. Degree years were not part of this review. [1]
A public life that began in the Ohio House
Husted won election to the Ohio House in 2000 and served as Speaker from 2005 to 2009, then in the Ohio Senate until he became secretary of state in 2011, an office he held for two terms. In late 2017 he ended his own campaign for governor and joined Mike DeWine’s ticket; after the 2018 election DeWine named him director of the new InnovateOhio office, and he also led the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation and the Common Sense Initiative. In the 119th Congress he sits on the Appropriations, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Environment and Public Works, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship committees; GovTrack also lists him on the Special Committee on Aging. [1][29][30][4]
President Trump endorsed him on April 9, 2025, less than three months after his appointment, and the Ohio Republican Party followed on May 9, 2025; he was unopposed in the May 5, 2026 primary, an outcome NBC News attributed in part to the Trump endorsement. He faces former Senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his own seat to Bernie Moreno by four points in 2024 and won the Democratic nomination on May 5, 2026, in the November 3, 2026 special election for the remainder of the term. [8][7][10][5]
A note on the primary numbers. The Ohio Secretary of State’s website blocked automated retrieval during this review, so the official canvass of the May 5, 2026 primary is not cited here; that Husted was nominated without opposition rests on NBC News’s reporting and the campaign’s own releases. [10][7]
Life & public service
From a northwest Ohio foster home to the Speaker’s chair, two statewide offices and an appointed Senate seat, the documented milestones show how his record was built.
A national championship at Dayton
An All-American defensive back, he helped the Dayton Flyers win the 1989 Division III football national championship, per his official biography. [1]
Speaker of the Ohio House
Elected Speaker by his colleagues for 2005 to 2009. Ohio Department of Taxation records show that House Bill 66 of 2005 launched a five-year, 21 percent across-the-board reduction in income tax rates, the cut his official biography describes as the largest in state history at the time, and a 2016 university funding summary records that the EdChoice Scholarship program passed the General Assembly on June 30, 2005 as part of the same bill. [1][41][43]
Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute
On June 11, 2018 the Supreme Court held, in a decision divided five to four, that Ohio’s process for removing inactive registrants from the rolls did not violate federal law. [11]
Lieutenant governor
Left his own campaign for governor to join Mike DeWine’s ticket in late 2017; as lieutenant governor he directed InnovateOhio, the workforce office and the Common Sense Initiative, a role Governor-elect DeWine announced on January 8, 2019, per the Statehouse News Bureau. [29][30][1]
The reconciliation bill
Voted Yea on July 1, 2025 as the Senate passed H.R. 1 on a 50–50 vote broken by the vice president. [12]
The nomination
Unopposed in the May 5, 2026 Republican primary; Sherrod Brown won the Democratic nomination the same night. [10]
Accomplishments, in the record
Court records, roll calls, Congress.gov entries and the official biography establish the following work. Outcomes are described at the level those records support, with shared credit where the measure was another official’s initiative.
Speaker of the Ohio House
Husted’s official biography records that he was elected Speaker of the Ohio House for 2005 to 2009 and credits that period with the most conservative state budget in four decades, which it says carried what was then the largest income tax cut in Ohio’s history and eliminated three business taxes, and with the creation of the EdChoice Scholarship. Ohio Department of Taxation records identify the 2005 measure: House Bill 66 of 2005 launched a five-year, 21 percent across-the-board reduction in income tax rates, scheduled at 4.2 percent a year from 2005 through 2009, although a 2009 law postponed the fifth step to 2011; the same bill enacted the commercial activity tax on gross receipts, effective July 1, 2005, to replace the revenue of the corporation franchise tax and the tangible personal property tax as those two taxes were phased out. A 2016 funding summary by Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation & Education Policy records that the statewide EdChoice program passed the General Assembly on June 30, 2005 as part of the same bill. The superlatives and the count of three taxes are the biography’s; this review did not measure them. [1][41][42][43]
Voter-roll maintenance, tested at the Supreme Court
As secretary of state Husted was the named defendant in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, No. 16-980, decided June 11, 2018. Ohio’s process sent a return card to registrants who had not voted for two years and removed those who neither returned it nor voted in the next four years. Justice Alito, joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Kennedy, Thomas and Gorsuch, held that the process did not violate the Failure-to-Vote Clause or any other part of the National Voter Registration Act and reversed the Sixth Circuit; Justice Thomas also concurred separately, Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan, and Justice Sotomayor dissented separately. His official biography describes the case as setting a national standard for maintaining the integrity of voter rolls. [11][1]
InnovateOhio and the workforce office
Governor-elect DeWine chose Husted to direct InnovateOhio, created in law in December 2018, as the Statehouse News Bureau reported on January 8, 2019, and he also led the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation and the Common Sense Initiative, which the bureau described as an effort to reduce business regulations. His official biography credits that tenure with the TechCred training program, expanded career-technical education and a regulatory review that used artificial intelligence to remove 5 million words from the state code. The campaign says he helped bring in Intel’s chip plant in Licking County, which the company announced on January 21, 2022 as a $20 billion investment in two factories; an Associated Press photograph shows him speaking at that announcement in Newark, and the size of his part in landing the project is a campaign characterization. [30][1][2][32]
A first law, carried by the House version
Husted introduced S.J.Res. 50 on April 28, 2025 to disapprove a Department of Energy rule on certification, labeling and enforcement for appliance standards. Congress.gov records that its text is contained in H.J.Res. 42, sponsored by Representative Andrew Clyde, which the Senate passed 52–46 on April 30, 2025 with Husted voting Yea and which became Public Law 119-8 on May 9, 2025. He told Spectrum News: “Less costs, less regulation, lower prices gives more choices, and so I was really proud that my first bill was something that made government smaller and less intrusive, and not bigger.” The law is the House resolution’s; the Senate twin is his. [22][23][14][35]
The reconciliation bill, rescissions and the shutdown votes
Husted voted Yea on July 1, 2025 when the Senate passed H.R. 1, the reconciliation bill, 50–50 with the vice president breaking the tie, and Yea on July 17, 2025 on H.R. 4, which rescinded budget authority the President had proposed to cancel and passed 51–48. On September 30, 2025 he voted Yea on the continuing resolution, H.R. 5371, which failed 55–45 against a three-fifths threshold, and Yea again on November 10, 2025 when the amended bill passed 60–40. These are recorded votes, not authorship. [12][15][17][18]
Confirmation and other key votes
Three days after taking his seat he voted Yea on the confirmation of Peter Hegseth as Secretary of Defense on January 24, 2025, a 50–50 vote decided by the vice president. GovTrack’s list of his key votes records Yea on the confirmations of Michael C. Martin, 62–36 on July 22, 2026, and Susan Courtwright Rodriguez, 57–32 on December 4, 2025, as district judges; Yea on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, H.R. 5334, which passed 86–11 on August 7, 2026; and Yea on H.R. 6938, the appropriations act for Commerce, Justice and Science, Energy and Water, and Interior and Environment, which passed 82–15 on January 15, 2026. [13][4]
Deferring to the President on tariffs and Iran
On April 30, 2025 Husted voted Nay on S.J.Res. 49, which would have terminated the national emergency declared to impose global tariffs; it failed on a 49–49 tie. On March 4, 2026 he voted Nay on the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 104, directing the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran not authorized by Congress, which failed 47–53, and on June 23, 2026 he voted Nay on H.Con.Res. 86, the House concurrent resolution directing the President under the War Powers Resolution to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, which the Senate nonetheless agreed to 50–48. [16][19][20][39]
A photo-identification bill that fell short of cloture
Husted is the sponsor of S. 5271, introduced August 5, 2026, which would amend the Help America Vote Act to require voters to provide photo identification. Cloture on the motion to proceed failed 52–46 on August 8, 2026, short of the three-fifths required, with Husted voting Yea; the bill appears on his official legislative record. [25][21][36]
Output, attendance and ideology, measured
Congress.gov counts 85 measures Husted has sponsored and 167 he has cosponsored since January 2025. GovTrack credits him with two enacted bills under its inclusive definition, which also counts a bill whose companion measure was enacted or whose provisions were carried by other legislation; on Congress.gov the second of them, S. 2529 on prescription-to-nonprescription drug switches, shows no action after its July 30, 2025 referral to committee. GovTrack records that he missed none of 886 roll-call votes from January 2025 to September 2026. [3][4][24]
Voteview’s DW-NOMINATE score places him at 0.586 on the conservative–liberal dimension for the 119th Congress, 24th of the 54 Republican senators with at least 100 scored votes and just right of their median of 0.554, a ranking computed from Voteview’s file for this profile. Heritage Action scores him 76 percent for the session and lifetime; the League of Conservation Voters 3 percent for 2025 and lifetime. [26][27][28]
Family & community
His official biography identifies his wife as Tina and says they raised three children, Alex, Kylie and Katie, in Ohio and make their home in Columbus; the Husteds became grandparents to Mae in 2023. He started life in a foster home before his adoption, a fact his biography states and with which, per NBC News, his first television ad of the campaign opened. [1][10]
His official biography states that the Husteds are active members of Riverside Church; this profile records that statement and makes no further claim about his religious practice. JNS reports that he is a member of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism. [1][34]
The sources reviewed here document family, residence and public roles; they do not supply a verified record of charitable board service, and none is asserted.
Mission & priorities
“Family. Faith. Freedom. Senator Husted has spent his entire career creating a strong economy, a thriving community, and a pro-business environment Ohioans can rely on.” {2}
The following summarizes the agenda on Husted’s campaign website, his campaign’s releases and his official Senate pages. These are proposed priorities, not completed accomplishments. [2][7][38]
01Jobs, wages and the benefits cliff
The campaign presents him as the lieutenant governor who “Pioneered job training through business-driven programs like TechCred and Industry Sector Partnerships” and helped land the Intel plant. In the Senate his Upward Mobility Act would, as the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services describes it on his office’s page, allow states to align eligibility requirements across public-assistance programs to address benefits cliffs; the page puts the problem in one figure, that in Ohio a single mother of two whose income rises from $33,000 to $34,000 would lose $4,895 in benefits. Governor DeWine and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce are among the endorsers listed there. [2][37]
02Smaller, cheaper government
The campaign says he “Founded InnovateOhio to reduce costs and eliminate government waste” and moved driver’s-license renewals and title transfers online. The record shows his first federal measure was a Congressional Review Act disapproval of an appliance-certification rule, enacted through the House version as Public Law 119-8; he described it as making government smaller and less intrusive. [2][23][35]
03Border security and immigration
Accepting President Trump’s endorsement he said he would work “to secure our borders, champion innovation, restore prosperity to the heartland, and fight for common sense Ohio values.” In September 2026 he introduced S. 5413, which would withhold federal highway funds from states that provide driver’s licenses or identification cards to people unlawfully present in the country; on September 16, 2026 his office announced, with Senator Bernie Moreno, an effort to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses, and earlier that month it called on states to end such licenses. [8][36][38][4]
04Police and public safety
The campaign describes him as a “Proud supporter of our police who worked to secure millions in funding for law enforcement agencies,” and reports the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio on July 21, 2026 and of 75 sheriffs, which it calls the most in Ohio history. His official biography says he has voted in the Senate to give law enforcement more tools to convict criminals who have flooded Ohio communities with fentanyl. [2][7][1]
05Elections: easy to vote, hard to cheat
His official biography sums up his elections philosophy as making it easy to vote and hard to cheat, and points to the 2018 Supreme Court decision upholding Ohio’s roll maintenance. In the Senate he sponsored S. 5271, the photo-identification bill on which cloture failed 52–46 on August 8, 2026. [1][11][25][21]
06Taxes and the budget
The campaign points to the budget he led through the House as Speaker as delivering “what was at the time, the largest income tax cut in Ohio’s history”; Ohio Department of Taxation records date that reduction, 21 percent over five years, to House Bill 66 of 2005. In Washington he voted for H.R. 1, the 2025 reconciliation bill, and told Spectrum News in May 2025 that tax relief had to be balanced with savings: “I want to save Medicaid for children and the elderly. And individuals with disabilities. And if we can’t run it more efficiently, we won’t be able to do that.” [2][41][12][35]
07Life and family
The campaign calls him a “Champion for life whose own started in foster care before being adopted by his parents, Jim and Judy Husted,” and his official biography says his record of defending the rights of women, children and the unborn began in his own family and that his adoption made him a pro-family advocate. No specific federal abortion bill of his was found in the records reviewed. [2][1]
08Second Amendment
The Buckeye Firearms Association PAC’s guide to the 2026 general election, dated August 3, 2026, grades him A and lists him as endorsed, with Sherrod Brown graded F; the campaign announced the endorsement on April 15, 2026, and the Trump endorsement release says he defended the Second Amendment as Speaker. [40][7][8]
How to assess a proposal. A campaign plan states an intention. Enactment, implementation costs, replacement revenue, and measured results are separate questions. These priorities should be read alongside the legislative and voting history above.
The fuller record
A useful profile includes policy tradeoffs, the limits of a claim, and responses to material criticism.
The FirstEnergy matter
In April 2024 two accounts, the Associated Press summarizing cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer and the USA TODAY Network’s Ohio bureau, reported that FirstEnergy gave $1 million in 2017 to Freedom Frontier, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit not required to disclose its donors, in support of his campaign for governor. The AP cited a 2022 deposition of a FirstEnergy executive in shareholder litigation; the USA TODAY Network cited an internal company email, obtained by public-records request, whose spreadsheet earmarked the money for the “Husted campaign.” The nonprofit in turn gave more than $1 million to Ohio Conservatives for a Change, a federal super PAC that backed him; the super PAC’s FEC filings show $1.08 million from Freedom Frontier between January and October 2018. His spokeswoman said: “The Husted campaign never received this donation and is not affiliated with any of these groups.” The AP noted that neither DeWine nor Husted has ever been accused of criminal or civil wrongdoing over House Bill 6 or the appointment of Sam Randazzo as utilities chairman, that Husted had helped advance Randazzo as the administration’s nominee, and that documents of both men were subpoenaed in the investors’ lawsuit, with Husted scheduled to be deposed. The USA TODAY Network reported that text messages released earlier showed FirstEnergy executives calling him “highly engaged” on the bill, and that both men say they supported the policy of saving the plants but did not cross any lines. On March 11, 2026 Husted testified by video, as a defense witness and not as a person accused of anything, in the state trial of former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling in Akron: he said he had gathered information on candidates for the utilities commission chair for DeWine, confirmed a December 2018 dinner with the two executives, said the company had been advocating for a different candidate, Jason Rafeld, and said that the company’s preference did not decide the governor’s choice. The record establishes the payment, the dinner and the testimony; it does not establish any finding against him. [32][44][31]
A political director’s dismissal
In September 2026 the campaign parted ways with its political director, Stephen Woytek, hired in August, after The Washington Post reported on his social-media posts. The Columbus Dispatch, citing screenshots it obtained independently, reported that he had used a photograph of soldiers of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler as his Facebook profile picture in 2018 and that photographs posted on Flickr appear to show him at a 2018 reenactment with a group portraying that unit; JNS reported the same facts from the Post. Woytek told the Post he rejects “the racist and antisemitic ideology the SS and Nazi Germany represented,” takes part in reenactments for educational reasons and should have exercised better judgment in posting about them. Spokesperson Amy Natoce: “While (Woytek) denies negative intent, his social media activity displays a complete lack of judgment and disregard for its impact on others,” adding that the senator made the decision the day he learned of the posts. The Dispatch also noted, citing NBC News, that a campaign volunteer had resigned months earlier when a prior criminal case came to light; the campaign said he had not disclosed his record. [33][34]
The Epstein-donor advertisement
Sherrod Brown’s first television ad, per NBC News, did not show the candidate and focused on money Husted’s campaigns received over the years from associates of Jeffrey Epstein; a narrator asks “Jon Husted — who’s he really working for?” NBC reported that Husted this year contributed a total of $34,300, a figure that encompasses donations from former Epstein business partner Leslie Wexner and his wife, to an Ohio charity that works with human-trafficking victims. The donations and the charitable contribution are both reported; the ad’s inference is the opposing campaign’s. [10]
What the 2018 decision settled, and what it did not
Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute upheld Ohio’s removal process under the National Voter Registration Act by a vote of five to four; Justice Thomas concurred separately, Justice Breyer’s dissent for four justices read the statute the other way, and Justice Sotomayor wrote separately. The decision is a ruling on whether the program complies with federal law, not a finding about the accuracy of Ohio’s rolls or the wisdom of the policy. On elections more broadly, the Statehouse News Bureau noted at his appointment that he had supported Trump in 2016 but, as secretary of state, had called Trump’s claims that the election system was rigged irresponsible. [11][29]
Tariffs, war powers and the President
Husted voted Nay on the April 30, 2025 resolution to end the emergency behind global tariffs, which failed on a 49–49 tie, and Nay on the Iran war-powers measures of March 4 and June 23, 2026, the second of which the Senate adopted 50–48 without him. The votes placed him with the President on both questions; each measure’s title states the claim it rested on, a national emergency declared to impose tariffs and hostilities not authorized by Congress. The roll calls are the record either way. [16][19][20][39]
Money, ratings and the field
Federal filings show his two authorized committees raised $14,360,028 and held $9,419,311 in cash through June 30, 2026, against $4,940,716 spent. The campaign’s July 14, 2026 release reports $7.7 million raised in the second quarter across all affiliated committees, $3.4 million of it by the principal committee, and more than $11 million in cash; the release names Husted Victory, Team Husted and JON PAC among the affiliated committees, whose money the FEC candidate page’s totals do not include. NBC News reported in May 2026 that Brown’s campaign held $17 million in mid-April against Husted’s $8.1 million. The campaign’s press index also reports endorsements from four labor organizations, including the National Border Patrol Council and two building-trades councils, from the National Federation of Independent Business, from Ohio’s attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and auditor, and from more than 80 current and former mayors; those are campaign-reported. Heritage Action’s 76 percent, the League of Conservation Voters’ 3 percent and the Buckeye Firearms Association PAC’s A are advocacy scorecards, not government records, and are labeled as such above. [6][9][10][7][27][28][40]
Questions & answers
Who is Jon Husted?
Jon Husted’s public career runs from the Ohio House, which he led as Speaker, through two terms as secretary of state and six years as lieutenant governor to the U.S. Senate seat he was appointed to fill when JD Vance became vice president. Husted was born in 1967 and, by his official biography, started his life in a foster home before being adopted by Jim and Judy Husted; he is the oldest of three children and was raised in Williams County in northwest Ohio, where he graduated from Montpelier High School. He and his wife, Tina, raised three children, Alex, Kylie and Katie, and make their home in Columbus. On January 17, 2025 Governor Mike DeWine announced him as his appointee to succeed JD Vance, who had resigned to become vice president; at the time, the Statehouse News Bureau reported, Husted had filed to run for governor in 2026 with DeWine’s backing. He was sworn in to the Senate on January 21, 2025. [3][1][29][4]
What office is Jon Husted running for in 2026?
Who is Jon Husted running against?
President Trump endorsed him on April 9, 2025, less than three months after his appointment, and the Ohio Republican Party followed on May 9, 2025; he was unopposed in the May 5, 2026 primary, an outcome NBC News attributed in part to the Trump endorsement. He faces former Senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his own seat to Bernie Moreno by four points in 2024 and won the Democratic nomination on May 5, 2026, in the November 3, 2026 special election for the remainder of the term. [8][7][10][5]
What are Jon Husted's stated priorities?
The following summarizes the agenda on Husted’s campaign website, his campaign’s releases and his official Senate pages. These are proposed priorities, not completed accomplishments. [2][7][38] The campaign lists: Jobs, wages and the benefits cliff; Smaller, cheaper government; Border security and immigration; Police and public safety; Elections: easy to vote, hard to cheat; Taxes and the budget; Life and family; Second Amendment.
What does the public record show?
Court records, roll calls, Congress.gov entries and the official biography establish the following work. Outcomes are described at the level those records support, with shared credit where the measure was another official’s initiative. Husted’s official biography records that he was elected Speaker of the Ohio House for 2005 to 2009 and credits that period with the most conservative state budget in four decades, which it says carried what was then the largest income tax cut in Ohio’s history and eliminated three business taxes, and with the creation of the EdChoice Scholarship. Ohio Department of Taxation records identify the 2005 measure: House Bill 66 of 2005 launched a five-year, 21 percent across-the-board reduction in income tax rates, scheduled at 4.2 percent a year from 2005 through 2009, although a 2009 law postponed the fifth step to 2011; the same bill enacted the commercial activity tax on gross receipts, effective July 1, 2005, to replace the revenue of the corporation franchise tax and the tangible personal property tax as those two taxes were phased out. A 2016 funding summary by Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation & Education Policy records that the statewide EdChoice program passed the General Assembly on June 30, 2005 as part of the same bill. The superlatives and the count of three taxes are the biography’s; this review did not measure them. [1][41][42][43]
How was this profile researched?
Reviewed September 17, 2026, and fact-checked the same day against every cited document. This is a documented overview of publicly available biography, major actions, and stated priorities, not an exhaustive vote-by-vote record; ten Senate roll calls were read for it and the defining ones are cited. Numerical claims retain their original meaning and attribution. Historical sources do not imply current positions. A court’s holding and a campaign’s characterization are labeled as such. The Ohio Secretary of State’s website, Ballotpedia, OpenSecrets, the Biographical Directory of Congress and the public pages of Congress.gov refused automated retrieval during this review; Congress.gov data was read through its public API and the primary result is taken from reporting. The years of his Ohio House and Ohio Senate service are given as the official biography sequences them (elected in 2000, Speaker to 2009, the Senate until 2011) rather than from a document listing term dates. The text and fiscal analyses of House Bill 66, state campaign-finance filings, degree years and personal financial disclosures were not part of this review. The source list provides direct links so readers can check the underlying material. Filings and campaign pages may change after this review.
Sources & methodology
Government records anchor the profile: Senate roll calls, Congress.gov bill and member records, the Supreme Court’s opinion and the candidate’s FEC page; official and campaign biographies establish attributed background, independent analyses and advocacy ratings are labeled as such, and original reporting supplies responses and scrutiny.
- 01About Jon, Your U.S. Senator (official Senate biography)husted.senate.gov · Accessed September 17, 2026
Adoption and upbringing, University of Dayton, the Dayton chamber, Ohio House and Speaker 2005–2009, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, InnovateOhio, TechCred, family, Riverside Church and Senate committees, as the office states them.Government record - 02Meet Senator Jon HustedJon Husted for Senate (campaign) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Campaign biography and the planks quoted in this profile: TechCred, Intel, InnovateOhio, police funding, life, the 2005 income tax cut. Self-descriptions.Campaign or advocacy material - 03Congress.gov member record, H001104Library of Congress (Congress.gov API) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Birth year 1967; Senate term from 2025; 85 sponsored and 167 cosponsored measures as counted by Congress.gov. Read through the public API with its published demonstration key because the public member page refused automated retrieval.Government record - 04Sen. Jon Husted — member page, committees, key votes and missed-votes recordGovTrack.us · Accessed September 17, 2026
Serving since January 21, 2025; committee assignments including the Special Committee on Aging; 0 of 886 roll calls missed; two bills counted as enacted under GovTrack’s inclusive definition; key votes on H.R. 5334, H.R. 6938 and two judicial confirmations.Independent analysis or rating - 05Current Senate roles for Ohio (API record)GovTrack.us (API) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Records the seat as filled by appointment from January 21, 2025, ending with a special election on November 3, 2026; Class 3.Independent analysis or rating - 06HUSTED, JON — candidate overview, S6OH00304Federal Election Commission · Accessed September 17, 2026
Total receipts $14,360,027.53, disbursements $4,940,716.33 and cash on hand $9,419,311.20 for January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026; principal committee Husted for Senate.Government record - 07Press Releases (index, April 2025 – July 2026)Jon Husted for Senate (campaign) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Endorsements (Ohio Republican Party May 9, 2025; Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio July 21, 2026; 75 sheriffs; Buckeye Firearms Association A rating), fundraising claims and the statements that the campaign proceeded without primary opposition; media contact address.Campaign or advocacy material - 08President Donald J. Trump Endorses Jon Husted for SenateJon Husted for Senate (campaign) · April 9, 2025
The endorsement release and Husted’s statement on borders, innovation and the heartland; the campaign’s account of his Second Amendment and elections record.Campaign or advocacy material - 09Jon Husted reports strongest fundraising quarter, tops $11 million cash on handJon Husted for Senate (campaign) · July 14, 2026
$7.7 million raised in the second quarter across affiliated committees, $3.4 million for the principal committee, more than $11 million cash; the campaign’s framing of Sherrod Brown.Campaign or advocacy material - 10Sherrod Brown wins Democratic Senate nomination in Ohio, setting up a key battleground raceNBC News (Henry J. Gomez) · May 5, 2026
Husted unopposed in his primary; Brown’s nomination; mid-April cash figures; the Epstein-donor ad and Husted’s $34,300 charitable contribution; his adoption-story ad.Independent reporting - 11Husted, Ohio Secretary of State v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, No. 16-980 (slip opinion)Supreme Court of the United States · June 11, 2018
Holding that Ohio’s change-of-residence removal process does not violate the National Voter Registration Act; Alito for the Court, Breyer dissenting for four justices, Sotomayor dissenting separately; Sixth Circuit reversed.Government record - 12Roll call vote 372, July 1, 2025 — H.R. 1, as amended, passageU.S. Senate · July 1, 2025
Husted recorded Yea; passed 50–50 with the vice president voting Yea.Government record - 13Roll call vote 15, January 24, 2025 — confirmation of Peter Hegseth as Secretary of DefenseU.S. Senate · January 24, 2025
Husted recorded Yea; confirmed 50–50 with the vice president voting Yea.Government record - 14Roll call vote 223, April 30, 2025 — H.J.Res. 42 (appliance-standards rule disapproval)U.S. Senate · April 30, 2025
Husted recorded Yea; passed 52–46.Government record - 15Roll call vote 411, July 17, 2025 — H.R. 4, rescissions, passageU.S. Senate · July 17, 2025
Husted recorded Yea; passed 51–48.Government record - 16Roll call vote 225, April 30, 2025 — S.J.Res. 49, terminating the global-tariff emergencyU.S. Senate · April 30, 2025
Husted recorded Nay; defeated 49–49.Government record - 17Roll call vote 535, September 30, 2025 — H.R. 5371, continuing appropriations, upon reconsiderationU.S. Senate · September 30, 2025
Husted recorded Yea; defeated 55–45 against a three-fifths requirement.Government record - 18Roll call vote 618, November 10, 2025 — H.R. 5371, as amended, passageU.S. Senate · November 10, 2025
Husted recorded Yea; passed 60–40.Government record - 19Roll call vote 46, March 4, 2026 — motion to discharge S.J.Res. 104 (hostilities against Iran)U.S. Senate · March 4, 2026
Husted recorded Nay; motion rejected 47–53.Government record - 20Roll call vote 184, June 23, 2026 — H.Con.Res. 86, removal of forces from hostilities with IranU.S. Senate · June 23, 2026
Husted recorded Nay; agreed to 50–48.Government record - 21Roll call vote 231, August 8, 2026 — cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 5271 (voter photo identification)U.S. Senate · August 8, 2026
Husted recorded Yea; cloture rejected 52–46.Government record - 22S.J.Res. 50 (119th Congress) — bill recordLibrary of Congress (Congress.gov API) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Sponsor Husted; introduced April 28, 2025 and referred to committee; Congress.gov’s note that its text is contained in H.J.Res. 42, which became Public Law 119-8.Government record - 23H.J.Res. 42 (119th Congress) — bill recordLibrary of Congress (Congress.gov API) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Sponsor Representative Andrew Clyde; became Public Law 119-8 on May 9, 2025.Government record - 24S. 2529 (119th Congress) — bill recordLibrary of Congress (Congress.gov API) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Husted’s bill on prescription-to-nonprescription switches; introduced July 30, 2025 and referred to the HELP Committee, with no later action recorded.Government record - 25S. 5271: A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voters to provide photo identificationGovTrack.us · Accessed September 17, 2026
Sponsor Jon Husted; introduced August 5, 2026; failed cloture August 8, 2026.Independent analysis or rating - 26DW-NOMINATE member data, 119th Congress Senate (S119_members.csv)Voteview (UCLA) · Accessed September 17, 2026
First-dimension score 0.586 on 882 scored votes. The ranking among Republican senators with at least 100 scored votes was computed from this file for this profile.Independent analysis or rating - 27Scorecard: Sen. Jon Husted, 119th CongressHeritage Action for America · Accessed September 17, 2026
Session score 76 percent; lifetime 76 percent.Independent analysis or rating - 28National Environmental Scorecard: Jon HustedLeague of Conservation Voters · Accessed September 17, 2026
2025 score 3 percent; lifetime 3 percent.Independent analysis or rating - 29DeWine appoints Ohio’s Lt. Gov. Husted to succeed VP-elect Vance in the US SenateThe Statehouse News Bureau (Karen Kasler) · January 17, 2025
The appointment announcement; Husted’s path from the Ohio House in 2000 through Speaker, the Senate and secretary of state; his late-2017 decision to join DeWine’s ticket; his 2026 governor filing; his 2016 remark on election-rigging claims; the special-election requirement.Independent reporting - 30Jon Husted To Lead Newly-Created InnovateOhioThe Statehouse News Bureau (Andy Chow) · January 8, 2019
Governor-elect DeWine’s designation of Husted as director of InnovateOhio, created in law the previous month, and as head of the workforce transformation office and the Common Sense Initiative.Independent reporting - 31Ohio U.S. Sen. Husted testifies as defense witness in FirstEnergy execs’ trialThe Statehouse News Bureau (Karen Kasler) · March 11, 2026
His remote testimony in the Jones and Dowling trial in Akron: the December 2018 dinner, FirstEnergy’s preference for Jason Rafeld, and the statement that he is not accused of wrongdoing.Independent reporting - 32FirstEnergy made secret $1 million payment in 2017 to support ‘Husted campaign’The Associated Press, via WOSU Public Media · April 10, 2024
The $1 million payment to Freedom Frontier disclosed in a 2022 deposition; the spokeswoman’s response; the statement that neither DeWine nor Husted has been accused of wrongdoing; the subpoenas and the scheduled deposition; the Intel announcement of January 21, 2022 in the photo caption.Independent reporting - 33Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign fires staffer who posted Nazi photoThe Columbus Dispatch (Haley BeMiller), via Yahoo News · September 14, 2026
The dismissal of political director Stephen Woytek; spokesperson Amy Natoce’s statement; the 2018 profile photograph and reenactment, from screenshots the Dispatch obtained; Woytek’s statement to The Washington Post; the earlier resignation of a campaign volunteer.Independent reporting - 34Ohio Republican fires campaign political director for using Nazi soldiers in social-media profile photoJNS (Jewish News Syndicate) · September 14, 2026
Second account of the dismissal; Woytek’s statements; Husted’s membership in the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.Independent reporting - 35Husted’s first bill signed into law repeals Biden-era appliance energy efficiency standardsSpectrum News 1 (Harri Leigh) · May 15, 2025
Husted’s own words on the law and on balancing tax relief with budget savings, including Medicaid.Independent reporting - 36Legislative Record (sponsored and cosponsored measures)husted.senate.gov · Accessed September 17, 2026
The office’s running list, including S. 5413 on highway funds and driver’s licenses and S. 5271 on photo identification with its cloture result.Government record - 37Upward Mobility Acthusted.senate.gov · Accessed September 17, 2026
The office’s description of the benefits-cliff proposal, its $33,000-to-$34,000 example and the endorsements it lists, including Governor DeWine and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.Government record - 38Press Releases (index, September 2026)husted.senate.gov · Accessed September 17, 2026
September 2026 releases on driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, college sports and Ohio funding announcements, in the office’s words.Government record - 39H.Con.Res. 86 (119th Congress) — bill recordLibrary of Congress (Congress.gov API) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Title: directing the President, under section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran; sponsor Representative Gregory Meeks; introduced April 20, 2026.Government record - 402026 BFA-PAC Grades and Endorsements for the Ohio General ElectionBuckeye Firearms Association · August 3, 2026
U.S. Senate: Jon Husted graded A and endorsed; Sherrod Brown graded F. An advocacy rating.Independent analysis or rating - 41Individual Income Tax — History of Major ChangesOhio Department of Taxation · undated; entries through 2010
House Bill 66 of 2005 launched a five-year, 21 percent across-the-board reduction in income tax rates, 4.2 percent a year for 2005 through 2009; House Bill 318 of 2009 postponed the fifth step to 2011.Government record - 42Commercial Activity Tax (2006 Annual Report chapter)Ohio Department of Taxation · 2006
The commercial activity tax was enacted in 2005 in House Bill 66, effective July 1, 2005, to replace the revenue of the phased-out corporation franchise tax and tangible personal property tax.Government record - 43Understanding How School Vouchers Are Funded: Summary of Funding for Ohio’s Cleveland Scholarship and EdChoice ProgramsCenter for Evaluation & Education Policy, Indiana University (Molly S. Stewart and Jodi S. Moon), via ERIC · October 2016
The statewide EdChoice program was passed by the Ohio General Assembly on June 30, 2005 as part of Am. Sub. H.B. 66.Independent analysis or rating - 44FirstEnergy gave $1M donation through dark money group to back Jon Husted, records showThe Cincinnati Enquirer / USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau (Jessie Balmert), via Yahoo News · April 10, 2024
Second, independent account: the internal FirstEnergy email earmarking $1 million for the “Husted campaign”; the spokeswoman’s statement; the super PAC’s $1.08 million in FEC filings; the text messages; the statement that neither man has been charged; shareholders’ attorneys sought to depose Husted.Independent reporting
No matching sources. Try “Clerk,” “Senate,” or “campaign.”
Scope & method. Reviewed September 17, 2026, and fact-checked the same day against every cited document. This is a documented overview of publicly available biography, major actions, and stated priorities, not an exhaustive vote-by-vote record; ten Senate roll calls were read for it and the defining ones are cited. Numerical claims retain their original meaning and attribution. Historical sources do not imply current positions. A court’s holding and a campaign’s characterization are labeled as such. The Ohio Secretary of State’s website, Ballotpedia, OpenSecrets, the Biographical Directory of Congress and the public pages of Congress.gov refused automated retrieval during this review; Congress.gov data was read through its public API and the primary result is taken from reporting. The years of his Ohio House and Ohio Senate service are given as the official biography sequences them (elected in 2000, Speaker to 2009, the Senate until 2011) rather than from a document listing term dates. The text and fiscal analyses of House Bill 66, state campaign-finance filings, degree years and personal financial disclosures were not part of this review. The source list provides direct links so readers can check the underlying material. Filings and campaign pages may change after this review.
Images. Conservative Ledger masthead supplied by the site creator. The candidate portrait is the official portrait published on the senator’s Senate website (husted.senate.gov/about), a work of the United States Government and therefore in the public domain. No campaign-owned or otherwise copyrighted photograph is used. Inclusion does not imply campaign authorization or endorsement of this publication.
Where to find the candidate
Every link below was read from the campaign’s own website or the candidate’s official government page. A follower count is printed only where it was measured; otherwise the link is published and the number is left blank rather than guessed at.
Voting in Ohio: official dates, deadlines and rules
The general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The dates and rules below were read from the Ohio Secretary of State; the authority's own page, linked beside each one, is the final word.
Dates and deadlines
- Voter registration deadlineMonday, October 5, 2026, for the November 3, 2026 general election. A registration form (a new registration, or a change of name or address) must be postmarked or received by October 5, 2026. Ways to register: online through the Secretary of State's online voter registration system (olvr.ohiosos.gov); by mail; or in person at your county board of elections or at another registration site such as a Bureau of Motor Vehicles office or a public library. Read from: boe.ohio.gov/clark/election-info/registration-deadlines
- Registration deadline — by mailPostmarked no later than Monday, October 5, 2026, when the form is mailed to your county board of elections or to the Secretary of State's office. Read from: boe.ohio.gov/clark/election-info/registration-deadlines
- Registration deadline — in personReceived no later than Monday, October 5, 2026, when the form is handed in rather than mailed. The county boards of elections that print their hours for that day stay open late: Montgomery County, “office open until 9:00 p.m.”; Summit County, “Our office is open until 9 PM on that date.” Read from: boe.ohio.gov/montgomery/election-info/registration-deadlines
- Absentee (mail) ballots start going outTuesday, October 6, 2026, the day after registration closes. The Summit County board's 2026 calendar says absentee ballots “must be ready” that day, and the Hamilton County board says it starts mailing absentee ballots on October 6, 2026. Read from: boe.ohio.gov/summit/c/upload/ElectionsCalendar.pdf
- Early in-person voting beginsTuesday, October 6, 2026, at 8:00 a.m., at your county board of elections (each board prints the address of its early voting center). The Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Franklin and Summit county boards of elections print the same schedule: October 6–9 (Tuesday–Friday), 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; October 12–16 (Monday–Friday), 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; October 19–23 (Monday–Friday), 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Saturday, October 24, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Monday, October 26, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday, October 27, 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Wednesday, October 28 to Friday, October 30, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 31, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Sunday, November 1, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Read from: boe.ohio.gov/montgomery/election-info/early-voting-hours
- Early in-person voting endsSunday, November 1, 2026, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Franklin County board's schedule calls it the “Final Day of Early Voting,” and the Summit County board says the last day for in-person absentee voting is the Sunday before Election Day at 5:00 p.m. The schedules printed by the county boards list no early voting hours for Monday, November 2, 2026. Read from: vote.franklincountyohio.gov/voters/absentee-and-early-voting
- Deadline to request an absentee (mail) ballotTuesday, October 27, 2026: your county board of elections must RECEIVE your absentee ballot application by the close of business that day, the seventh day before Election Day. County boards print the closing time as 8:30 p.m.: Hamilton County, “until 8:30 pm on October 27th”; Lorain County, “Tuesday, October 27 by 8:30 P.M.” The application must be mailed or delivered in person; the Summit and Greene county boards say faxed or e-mailed requests from domestic voters are not accepted. Read from: votehamiltoncountyohio.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Nov-2026-Election-Cal-.pdf
- Deadline to return an absentee (mail) ballotTuesday, November 3, 2026, 7:30 p.m. — the ballot must be RECEIVED by your county board of elections by then; this is a received-by deadline, not a postmark deadline. The Secretary of State's absentee application (Form 11-A, 06/2026) says: “Ohio law requires all absentee ballots to be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day,” whether the ballot comes back by mail, in the drop box located at your county board of elections, or in person at the board office. Exception printed on the same form: ballots from members of the uniformed services and from voters outside the United States must be received by the fourth day after the election. Read from: boe.ohio.gov/comoh/Absentee_Request_11-A.pdf
Rules to know
- What to bringOhio requires photo identification to vote in person, both during early in-person voting and on Election Day. The ID must not be expired and must show your name and photograph. Accepted: an Ohio driver's license, state ID card or interim ID form issued by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles; a U.S. passport or passport card; or a U.S. military ID card, Ohio National Guard ID card or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card. The Hamilton and Butler county boards also list a U.S. military dependent ID card. If you do not have or cannot show photo ID, you may vote a provisional ballot; for it to be counted you must go to your county board of elections within four days after Election Day and show photo ID. Voting by mail works differently: the absentee ballot application asks for the last four digits of your Social Security number, your Ohio driver's license or state ID card number, or a copy of your photo ID. Read from: vote.franklincountyohio.gov/voters/identification-requirements
- Voting by mail (absentee)Any registered Ohio voter may vote absentee by mail; the Greene County board notes that voters no longer have to state a reason. Ask for a ballot with the Absentee Ballot Application (Form 11-A, prescribed by the Secretary of State), or call your county board of elections and ask it to mail you an application. The application must include ONE of these: the last four digits of your Social Security number; your Ohio driver's license or state ID card number; or a copy of a current photo ID (front and back; for a passport, the identification page). Mail it or hand it in to your county board of elections so that the board RECEIVES it by the close of business on Tuesday, October 27, 2026; the Summit and Greene county boards say faxed or e-mailed requests from domestic voters are not accepted. Return your voted ballot so that the board RECEIVES it by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026: by mail with postage affixed (the form says to mail it as soon as possible), in the drop box located at your county board of elections, or in person at the board office. Only you or a near relative may deliver your ballot; a voter with a disability may choose anyone other than their employer or an officer of their union, and whoever delivers a ballot for someone else must complete an attestation form (Form 12-P) at the board office. Do not take an absentee ballot to your Election Day polling place: the Summit County board says ballots left there will not be counted. If you were mailed an absentee ballot and decide to vote at your polling place on Election Day instead, you will have to vote a provisional ballot. Read from: boe.ohio.gov/comoh/Absentee_Request_11-A.pdf
- Early in-person votingOhio's early voting is in-person absentee voting: from Tuesday, October 6 to Sunday, November 1, 2026 you can vote in person at your own county's early voting center, which in the counties read is the county board of elections office (the Hamilton County board says early in-person voting takes place “ONLY at the Board of Elections”). The days and hours are listed above under “Early in-person voting begins”; the Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Franklin and Summit county boards print the identical schedule, which includes two Saturdays and one Sunday and no hours on Monday, November 2, 2026. Bring photo ID: the Franklin County board lists the same identification requirements for early in-person voting and for Election Day. Read from: vote.franklincountyohio.gov/voters/absentee-and-early-voting
- Track your absentee ballotThe Secretary of State's absentee application (Form 11-A) says: “You can track your request and your ballot online at VoteOhio.gov/Track.” County boards of elections also post their own trackers, for example “Track your Absentee Ballot” (Summit County), “Absentee Request Status” (Greene County) and “Track the status of your mail-in ballot” (Franklin County). Read from: boe.ohio.gov/comoh/Absentee_Request_11-A.pdf
Read from: Absentee Ballot Application — Form 11-A Prescribed by the Ohio Secretary of State (06/2026) · 2026 ELECTIONS CALENDAR · SUMMIT COUNTY – Board of Elections · Summit County In-Person Absentee Voting For the November 3, 2026 General Election · Absentee Voting – SUMMIT COUNTY · SUMMIT COUNTY General Election - November 3, 2026 (Official Candidate List) — Rules and dates as of Sep 17, 2026
Ideas, questions, corrections
If something on this page is wrong, out of date, or missing, the fastest way to get it fixed is to send the document. Corrections that arrive with a source are applied. Suggestions for what the Ledger should cover next are welcome on the same address. media@jonhusted.com
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