Fact-checking Donald Trump, Jon Husted at Ohio rally on economy, Sherrod Brown’s record

President Donald Trump sought to rally supporters in Vandalia, Ohio, as part of a weeks-long effort to boost Republicans in the midterm elections.

Ohio is one of the key 2026 battlegrounds, with Republican Sen. Jon Husted facing a stiff challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton vying for governor.

Trump spoke for about 90 minutes at the Oct. 3 rally, joined by Husted, Ramaswamy and other Ohio Republicans. Ramaswamy welcomed a 10-year-old named Hunter to the stage after learning his father was deployed with the military. Husted brought up Jon Gruden, his old college football teammate and a former NFL coach, for an endorsement.

PolitiFact analyzed claims by Husted and Trump on the national and state economies, Brown’s congressional record, and Husted’s recent bill on data centers and utility costs.

Husted: Brown “did some nice things for the people here illegally. He gave them your Social Security money and free healthcare and COVID checks.”

False.

Husted distorts the outcome of several Brown Senate votes that would not have provided federal benefits to immigrants in the country illegally. Some of the measures stemmed from a practice both parties engage in: forcing members of the other political party to vote on amendments that don’t align with the party’s positions, and using those votes in later campaign messaging. 

In 2007, Brown voted against an amendment that pertained to immigrants who were once in the U.S. illegally but later became legal residents. The legislation would have prevented these individuals from receiving Social Security credit for taxes paid before they gained legal status. His vote did not give Social Security benefits to people in the country illegally.

On healthcare, Brown voted against a 2013 Republican amendment that said immigrants in the U.S. illegally should not be eligible for federally subsidized healthcare. Federal law already prohibits immigrants in the country illegally from receiving Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Affordable Care Act subsidies.

As for pandemic aid, Brown voted for the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act that included $1,400 stimulus checks for millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill included provisions preventing people in the U.S. illegally from receiving such checks by requiring recipients to have valid Social Security numbers. 

Husted: “You know what happened in Ohio this week, Mr. President? We had the lowest unemployment rate in the history of Ohio.”

This is accurate.

The most recent unemployment rate, for August, was 3.3%. The previous low, going back to the first state calculation in 1976, was 3.4% in May 2023. (That was during Joe Biden’s presidency.)

Trump: “Jon Husted introduced the Rate Power Protection Act to stop data centers from raising electricity costs and require them to pay their own way. … Almost every single Democrat in the Senate voted to block it. They didn’t want it only because we wanted it, probably because I wanted it.”

This needs context.

Trump is right that most Democrats opposed the Husted-backed measure in the Senate, even though most House Democrats had supported the legislation in that chamber, where it passed 417-3. (Four Senate Democrats supported the measure, but it did not reach the 60 votes needed to proceed to a final vote.)

Trump overstated the effect of the bill. Its provisions to have tech companies fund the additional costs caused by data-center electricity use were not mandatory. This is contrary to Trump’s statement that they would “stop” cost increases and “require” companies to pay their own way.

Most Senate Democrats said they voted against the measure for that reason. Some preferred a more stringent measure offered by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., that was not taken up in the chamber.

“Americans are demanding real guardrails on AI and data centers, but all the Republicans offer is a toothless messaging bill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a Senate floor speech. “The bill is a fraud. I can sum up the shortcomings of the Republican data center bill with one word: optional. The bill is optional.” 

Brown has resurfaced Husted’s public advocacy for data center investments as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2025. 

Trump: “Ohio lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs during Brown’s watch.”

This refers to lost manufacturing jobs since 1993, when Brown started a 32-year run in Congress. It isn’t the full story of U.S. manufacturing receding amid greater global competition. 

During Brown’s Senate tenure (2007-2025), Ohio lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs. To get to about 300,000 manufacturing jobs lost in the state requires adding in Brown’s tenure in the House (1993-2007).

Brown has been a longstanding free-trade skeptic. He voted for his first trade deal in 2019, which means he was fighting against trade deals when most of those 300,000 jobs were lost.

Trump: “We have almost no inflation.”

This is misleading. 

The year-over-year inflation rate was 3% when Trump began his second term; it was 3.4% in August, the most recent month for which the consumer price index is available. That’s well above zero, and it’s above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% year-over-year inflation.

Trump: Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has “been a vegan all his life.”

False. (In addition to Trump mispronouncing the word as “vay-gin,” he repeated an unproven punchline of Talarico vomiting after eating meat.)

In a 2022 speech, Talarico said reducing meat consumption is the “moral thing to do” and “necessary to fight climate change.” But he didn’t say in the clip he is a vegan. And more recently, Talarico has denied that he’s a vegan and released social media posts showing him eating meat. 

RELATED: Trump’s midterm rallies: A fact-checked guide to talking points, falsehoods

READ MORE: See all of our Ohio and 2026 midterm fact-checking.