Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) accused Senate Democrats of blocking bipartisan legislation intended to protect Americans from higher electricity costs associated with data centers, telling Breitbart News Saturday that lawmakers prioritized politics over affordability as he campaigns against former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle on Saturday, Husted said he developed the Ratepayer Protection Act while working with President Donald Trump “six months or nine months ago,” explaining that the legislation would require data centers to pay for electricity generation and infrastructure costs “so that the bill is not passed on to ratepayers.”

Husted said the legislation would “save them money” and “lower the local electrical rates,” pointing to the measure’s overwhelming bipartisan support in the House.

“This bill passed House 417 to three, 206 Democrats voted for it. Hakeem Jeffries and AOC voted for it. So did the Freedom Caucus. Okay, everybody’s for it,” Husted said.

“Comes back over to the Senate. Democrats don’t even need to vote for it. They just need to not block it. They block it,” he continued.

Husted argued that Senate Democrats prevented the legislation from advancing because they did not want Republicans to secure a victory on affordability ahead of the November midterm elections.

“They talk about affordability, but then they had a chance to cut electric rates for ratepayers, make the data centers be accountable, and they all voted no against it,” Husted said.

“Why would they do that when it’s like a 90-10 issue that people say, yeah, this should be done, all because they didn’t want me and Republicans to solve the affordability issues that people are talking about,” he continued. “They wanted to play politics. They don’t care about the American people.”

As he faces Brown in Ohio’s Senate race, Husted pointed to recent campaign events in Dayton and Youngstown as signs of growing momentum.

“We’ve had the president here twice. He was in Dayton and then in Youngstown, and he brought a lot of people with him, including my former teammate John Gruden, who is a Super Bowl-winning football coach who came in to help support us,” Husted said.

Husted also pointed to early voting trends, claiming Republicans have been narrowing the Democrats’ initial advantage.

“The first day of early voting went big for the Democrats, but every day since then has been a Republican,” Husted said. “Republicans have been catching up on the vote totals, and I’m confident that if we just continue this wave of momentum, if people keep digging in, fighting, understanding what’s at stake, turning out to vote, that by the time we get to and through election day, we will get a victory.”

The senator also criticized Brown’s record on trade and manufacturing, arguing that the former senator supported policies benefiting Chinese producers at the expense of Ohio businesses.

“Part of the Green New Deal he voted for subsidized the purchase of Chinese solar panels. Okay, we make solar panels in Ohio,” Husted said. “The biggest American-owned solar panel company is a company called First Solar. Okay, they’re in Ohio, and he voted to subsidize Chinese solar panels to come in.”

Husted credited Trump’s economic policies with attracting manufacturing jobs to Ohio, saying the state has gained thousands of jobs and experienced historically low unemployment.

“We’ve added 10,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 18 months, in steel, in the pharmaceutical supply chain, in the chip supply chain, all of that kind of stuff coming to Ohio, coming to America,” Husted said. “We now have the lowest unemployment rate, 3.3 percent, and the most jobs in Ohio history.”

Turning to the November election, Husted argued that Republican turnout would determine whether he defeats Brown.

“All we have to do is get the Republicans who voted in the last election to vote in this election, and we will win,” Husted said. “But we can’t sit on the sidelines. We have to do this.”

Husted concluded with a call for Republican supporters to help mobilize voters ahead of Election Day.

“I’m asking five minutes a day. Call one person a day over the next 17 days. Five minutes a day. You go vote early. If we do that, we will win,” Husted said.

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