Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) has pocketed more than $630,000 from data center proponents over the last two decades. It may explain why he fought to bring more data centers to Ohio.
There are currently 240 active or under construction data centers in the state. The facilities, which provide the computing power needed to train and run AI systems, use large amounts of electricity and water and have been blamed for rising utility costs.
A recent New York Times/Siena poll found that 61% of Americans oppose building data centers in their communities. This backlash has made data center policy a major issue in the upcoming elections.
Husted has held multiple political offices in Ohio since 2001. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate last year to fill the seat vacated by Vice President J.D. Vance.
A review of campaign finance records spanning Husted’s career indicates that he has received $631,284 from companies that own and operate data centers, employees who work for those companies, and lobbyists who represent those companies’ interests. This includes individuals associated with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
As lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2025, Husted pushed to expand the use of AI in state and local government, including in public schools. This made Ohio a hotbed for the AI industry and accelerated the construction of data centers across the state.
Signal Ohio reports that Ohio data centers received $2.5 billion in state and local tax incentives between 2017 and 2024. This includes a sales tax exemption for data centers that Husted personally championed. The exemption helped pave the way for a Google-run data center in New Albany.
In the Senate, Husted supported the sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which significantly expanded federal tax incentives for data centers. House and Senate Democrats are now pushing to repeal those incentives.
One of Husted’s first hires as a senator was senior advisor Sean Dunn, an Ohio-based lobbyist who had done work on behalf of Meta, another data center giant. The Washington Sun reported in June that Dunn continued to work as a lobbyist while employed by Husted.
Dunn has personally donated more than $94,000 to Husted’s various campaigns.
Husted is seeking his first full U.S. Senate term this year. His Democratic opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, has put out multiple ads criticizing Husted’s data center record. Brown has endorsed legislation that would require data centers to pay the full cost of their utilities.