Ohio Senator Jon Husted voted on July 1, 2025 for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (roll call 372), which ends tax credits for wind and solar facilities placed in service after December 31, 2027, as data centers add record demand to the grid that serves Ohio. In April 2026 he voted against requiring budget bills to lower home electricity bills, weeks before the grid's market monitor reported that data-center-driven price impacts have been very large and are not reversible.
As lieutenant governor, Husted praised Google's data center expansion in central Ohio, saying "Data centers are essential to our digital lives". Ohio's sales tax exemption for data centers cost a whopping $1.6 billion in 2025, and in September 2026, when Senator Bernie Moreno called for ending data center subsidies, Husted's office wouldn't say if Husted supported the move.
Jon Husted's Votes, Confirmations and Statements on AI and Data Centers
- Husted Cast a Deciding Vote to Cut Credits for New Power Supply as Data-Center Demand Surged. On July 1, 2025, Jon Husted voted yes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50-50 with the Vice President's tie-breaking vote and ends credits for any applicable facility placed in service after December 31, 2027 that uses wind or solar. The Union of Concerned Scientists puts the wholesale power costs attributable to data center-driven demand growth range from $411 billion to $524 billion from 2026 through 2035.
- Husted Voted Against Requiring Budget Bills to Lower Home Electricity Bills in April 2026. On April 23, 2026, Husted voted no on a motion to create a point of order against legislation that would not decrease home electricity bills; it failed 48-50. In February 2025 he had voted against a similar rule against legislation that would raise energy costs for Americans. Weeks later the PJM grid's independent market monitor reported that data-center-driven price impacts on customers have been very large and are not reversible, and in July 2026 PJM's capacity auction for the grid that serves Ohio cleared at record prices; It cited data center growth as one major factor driving demand.
- Husted Voted Against Cutting Off Money for DOGE in March 2025. On March 14, 2025, Husted voted no on Senator Chris Van Hollen's amendment to prohibit the use of appropriated amounts by DOGE; it failed 48-52. DOGE went on to use AI across agencies: at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a DOGE operative was tasked with using artificial intelligence to rewrite the agency's rules and regulations, and at Social Security a whistleblower says a former DOGE employee copied the Social Security numbers, names and birthdays of over 300 million Americans into a cloud system without independent oversight, which the agency disputes.
- Husted Confirmed the Veterans Affairs Secretary Under Whom a DOGE AI Tool Flagged Contracts for Cancellation. On February 4, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs. ProPublica reported in June 2025 that the DOGE AI tool flagged more than 2,000 contracts at the VA for cancellation and that it hallucinated the size of contracts, frequently misreading them and inflating their value; canceled contracts included one to maintain a gene sequencing device used to develop better cancer treatments.
- Husted Confirmed the Energy Secretary Who Kept Coal Plants Open, Citing Data-Center Demand. On February 3, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Chris Wright as secretary of energy. His department's emergency orders to keep retiring coal plants running carry out an executive order that cited demand driven by rapid technological advancements, including the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers; IEEFA counted at least $300 million in extra costs through mid-May 2026 for ratepayers.
- Husted Praised Google's Central Ohio Data Center Expansion as Lieutenant Governor. As lieutenant governor, Husted said of Google's planned $2.3 billion into its three data center campuses in Central Ohio: "Data centers are essential to our digital lives and Google's additional multibillion-dollar investment further establishes central Ohio as an important tech hub in America" (DatacenterDynamics, June 20, 2024). Ohio's sales tax exemption for data centers cost a whopping $1.6 billion, eleven times more than the original estimate in 2025, Signal Ohio reported in May 2026, and Governor Mike DeWine then paused new incentives as public opinion swung hard against data centers, the Ohio Capital Journal reported.
- Husted Would Not Say Whether He Supports Ending Data Center Subsidies. When Ohio's other senator, Bernie Moreno, called in September 2026 for ending taxpayer subsidies to data centers, the office of his Republican colleague, Ohio’s Jon Husted, wouldn’t say whether Husted supported the move, the Ohio Capital Journal reported on September 8, 2026. On top of the state's cost, Ohio local governments lost another $166.8 million in lost revenue in local sales taxes to the exemption in 2024, Signal Ohio reported.
What Data Centers and the Policies Jon Husted Backed Mean for Ohio
- Electric bills. The July 2026 capacity auction for the grid that serves Ohio set prices that will keep Ohio electric bills high, and PJM cited data center growth as one major factor driving demand, the Statehouse News Bureau reported.
- Lost tax revenue. Ohio's data-center sales tax exemption cost the state about $555 million in 2024 and $1.6 billion in 2025, against an original estimate of $136 million, according to actual cost data reported by Signal Ohio.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jon Husted on Artificial intelligence and data centers
What is Jon Husted's record on artificial intelligence and data centers under Trump?
Jon Husted cast one of the 50 votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ends credits for new wind and solar projects as data centers drive record demand, and voted against requiring budget bills to lower home electricity bills. He voted against cutting off DOGE's funding and to confirm the officials under whom DOGE's AI tools flagged VA contracts and the Energy secretary who kept coal plants running, citing data-center demand. As lieutenant governor he praised Google's central Ohio data centers, and in September 2026 his office wouldn't say whether he supports ending data center subsidies.
Does Jon Husted support ending data center tax breaks in Ohio?
Jon Husted's position is not on the record: when Senator Bernie Moreno called for ending data center subsidies in September 2026, Husted's office wouldn't say if Husted supported the move. As lieutenant governor in 2024 he called data centers essential to our digital lives.
Are data centers raising electric bills in Ohio?
Jon Husted voted for the law that cuts credits for new wind and solar supply, and the grid that serves Ohio has seen data-center demand push prices up: PJM's market monitor says the data-center price impacts on customers have been very large and are not reversible, and PJM's record July 2026 auction cited data center growth as a major factor. National studies differ on the size of the effect, so these figures are for the PJM region, not the whole country.
Last updated: 2026-10-25