Glass City

Last week, I spoke to hundreds of Ohioans ready for change at a kickoff event in Toledo. Let me just say this: Folks are ready to win in November.

My speech is transcribed below; I hope you’ll give it a read or watch it here.

Hello Toledo!

So much excitement in this room tonight – and I feel the same enthusiasm in Marion and Mansfield and Cleveland and Cincinnati.

In cities, in suburbs, in small towns, and in farm country, we see people showing up like never before – Angry. Frustrated. Demanding change.

They know the system is rigged – more than ever.

Corporate profits have soared. Executive salaries have exploded — right now, the average CEO makes $17 million a year.

That’s bad enough – what’s worse is that CEOs are making 300 times what their average worker makes.

Ohio workers are more productive than ever. You work harder than ever.

But no matter how hard you work, your pay is not keeping up, and too often you simply can’t get ahead.

Families see more money going out the door, and not enough money coming in – to pay for utilities, health care, groceries, everything.

Big banks pile on fee after fee for every little thing, then they shower their executives with bonuses.

Insurance companies take your premiums every month – then they do everything they can to refuse to cover the care you need… after they put you on hold for what seems like forever.

Drug companies force you to pay more than people overseas pay for the same drug, the same dosage, and the same packaging… then rake in even bigger profits.

Big corporations gobble up energy to feed their data centers. They devour your land. They suck up your water. Then they leave you with the bill.

And no one in Washington is standing up to these corporations who game the system and raise your prices. Instead, politicians – people who are supposed to work for YOU – are cashing in.

When they’re in office, they play the stock market. When they leave office, they become lobbyists.

That’s shameful.

Speaking of… let’s talk about Jon Husted. Special-interest Jon in Columbus, who looked out for the insurance and utility companies.

Now he’s special-interest Jon in Washington, looking out for the billionaires and Wall Street.

Listen, for a moment, to what he says.

He says struggling Ohioans don’t know how to, quote, navigate the “real world.”

He says you just need to make more money.

That you just need to do more work.

And most insulting of all, he says your work ethic is broken.

Jon, get out of Washington and come to Toledo.

Go to Byrnedale Elementary in South Toledo. Talk to the teacher who dips into her OWN POCKET to pay for school supplies. Look her in the eye and tell her, “Your work ethic is broken.”

Or go to Scott High School. Look a custodian or a cafeteria worker in the eye. Tell them their work ethic is broken.

Or go to Toledo Hospital. Talk to a nurse on the night shift or an aide pushing a wheelchair. Tell them their work ethic is broken.

Go over to the Chrysler Plant, where our Jeep was made. Talk to a worker on the line wearing protective gear for hours at a time. Tell him his work ethic is broken.

Or go to a Walmart and talk to the worker stocking the shelves all day, only to leave their shift to go deliver DoorDash at night. Tell them their work ethic is broken.

Everyone in this room – think about your own jobs.

How dare Jon Husted say your work ethic is broken?

That you aren’t working hard. That you should just go out and earn more.

It’s bad enough how he talks. It’s even worse what he’s done:

He voted thirteen times for the war in Iran that’s raised the price of diesel and fertilizer for truckers and farmers, and gas and groceries for all of us. And get this, Husted says the war is going “much better than anyone thought it would.”

Jon Husted voted not once, not twice, but nine times against lowering health insurance premiums. NINE TIMES.

Why?

It’s pretty simple. He’s taken $700,000 from the same insurance companies that are jacking up premiums in Ohio.

He cast the deciding vote to take health care away from 490,000 Ohioans.

Why? All to pay for a tax cut for his billionaire buddies and corporate cronies.

He took more than $116,000 from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators, including a maximum donation just last year. And then, weeks later, he voted against releasing the Epstein files.

He was at the center of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history. A $61 million bribe that hiked up your electricity prices.

And look at what he’s done with data centers. All 226 of them in Ohio.

Jon Husted led the charge to bring these data centers to our state.

He delivered giant corporations billions of dollars in sweetheart tax deals. Ohioans now pay thousands more on their utility bills.

And get this. Now that Ohioans are seeing Jon Husted for exactly who he is, he’s sent out a plea to his billionaire backers and corporate friends to spend tens of millions of dollars to help him in his race.

Tens of millions of dollars MORE to bail him out.

This is exactly what people hate about politics: special-interest Jon Husted stands with corporations, not with Ohioans. And we all pay for it.

Ohioans don’t have anyone fighting for YOU. Until November.

Talk to your neighbors and your friends and tell them: Ohio doesn’t have to accept this corruption.

Tell them how we’re going to ban the health insurance companies from denying care that your doctor says you need. If that doesn’t work, we’ll fine them when they deny your claims.

Tell them how we’re going to make it illegal for drug companies to charge Americans more than they do in other countries. The same pill should be the same price.

It’s not hard to see why this corruption is happening.

Last year, members of Congress made more than $635 million in stock trades. Far too many members of Congress over the years have become lobbyists. No wonder they’re not standing up to corporations – they’re too busy lining their own pockets.

No one – NO ONE – who serves in Congress, no spouse, should be able to trade stocks.

They also shouldn’t be able to turn around when they leave office and become a lobbyist.

If you can’t agree to that, you shouldn’t be in public office.

Ohioans won’t stand for this rigged system any longer. Ohio is fighting back.

You’re showing up. You’re insisting on change. You’re demanding a senator who will work for Ohio – not for the utility companies, not for the drug companies, not for Wall Street, and not for big oil.

Someone who will be on YOUR side.

We’re demanding a government that works for Ohio. So knock on doors. Make phone calls. Talk to your family members. Your friends at church. Your friends in your neighborhood.

Because when you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work.