COLUMBUS, Ohio — A leaked memo shows national Republican leaders are worried about Ohio's U.S. Senate race, one in which data centers have taken center stage.
Across the aisle, politicians are noticing former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign strategy, one that is hitting Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted hard.
Campaign ads have blanketed Ohio's airwaves. Three in particular come from Brown, all dealing with data centers.
RELATED: Supreme Court ruling likely means more political ads in Ohio
“[Jon] Husted is a chief reason Ohio has so many of those centers," an ad says. "He force-fed the massive energy-sucking facilities.”
First published by Axios, a leaked memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee says Husted and Brown are in “a dead heat,” and that data centers have become the “sleeper issue for this entire cycle.”
"Husted's been the front guy on all these data centers, 200 in Ohio, getting huge over-the-top tax breaks, and raising utility rates," Brown told me in a one-on-one interview.
The memo continues, adding, “Brown is using it because it works."
"More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted's neck," the memo states.
Brown’s ads are accurate that Husted helped bring a slew of data centers to Ohio, which his former running mate, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, defends.
RELATED: Ohio lawmakers unveil data center regulations
"They're valuable to economic development in the state," DeWine said. "Sometimes people, when they talk about data centers, don't realize they're using them every day."
Husted and his team didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story, and neither did the NRSC. But earlier this year, the senator said data centers need to be more responsible.
"Producing their own electricity so that it doesn't hit ratepayers, and then also recycling all the water that they have in their system," Husted said while visiting the Ohio Statehouse in February.
After Brown's ads started airing, Husted proposed a bill in the Senate to encourage states to require companies to pay for their own power. Husted could have put guardrails in place when he helped lead the Statehouse, Brown said.
RELATED: Ohio's U.S. Senate race expected to have record-breaking spending
"None of us should be paying higher electric rates because these out-of-state corporations came in, [and] put the data centers here," Brown added.
The memo, which was sent to tech companies, is asking for help fixing this image crisis.
“Campaigns or party committees can not fix the toxic brand of an entire segment of the economy,” the document says.
It warned that Ohio’s election could set future data center policy.
“Elected officials everywhere will treat Ohio as their reason to work against data centers in the future," the memo states. "If voters' perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio.”
Democrats are already fundraising off the leaked memo.
RELATED: 1 week after the announced end of Medicare Part D subsidies, the impact remains unknown
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
