Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has launched a campaign advertisement targeting Republican Sen. Jon Husted over the expansion of data centers in Ohio, a central issue in their competitive Senate race. The ad, released on Sept. 4, features a facility owned by Google and links the growth of such centers to rising electric bills for Ohioans. However, campaign finance records indicate that Google’s corporate PAC and individual lobbyists affiliated with the tech giant have contributed thousands of dollars to Brown’s campaigns over the years.
The ad features an Ohio resident blaming Husted for spearheading the push to bring data centers to the state and connecting their expansion to increased utility costs. The facility shown in the commercial opened in Lancaster, Ohio, in 2023. While Brown’s campaign has focused on the economic impact of these facilities on local communities, the visual use of a Google-owned site has drawn attention to the candidate’s past financial ties to the company and its lobbying interests.
What the Right Is Saying
Republican strategists and the Husted campaign have characterized the ad as hypocritical, citing the financial relationship between Brown and Google. Mehek Cooke, a GOP strategist and attorney in Ohio, described the situation as "Jekyll-and-Hyde politics." She argued that Brown cannot simultaneously portray Google as a villain in campaign ads while accepting political contributions from the company’s PAC and lobbyists.
Cooke noted that for nearly five decades, Brown has presented himself as a working-class populist, yet she claimed his Washington record contradicts this image. "If Google’s Lancaster investment is so bad for Ohio, why was Google political money acceptable to Sherrod Brown?" Cooke asked. Husted campaign spokesperson Amy Natoce added that Brown is resorting to "lies" to avoid facing his record. She stated that the House passed bipartisan legislation requiring data center companies to pay for their own power usage, but Senate Democrats blocked the measure, which Natoce argued would have protected Ohio families from higher bills.
What the Left Is Saying
Brown’s campaign has centered its argument on the burden data centers place on local infrastructure and consumers. Lauren Chou, a spokeswoman for Brown’s campaign, stated that Husted was the "chief reason" Ohio has 226 data centers and described him as "the face of data centers" in the state. She argued that Ohioans should not be forced to subsidize the costs associated with these facilities.
Chou emphasized that local residents, rather than Husted and his "billionaire friends," should have the authority to decide whether data centers are built in their communities. The campaign’s position suggests that the rapid expansion of data centers, often driven by corporate interests, has outpaced the capacity of the local grid, leading to higher prices for households. The campaign did not immediately address the specific contributions from Google’s PAC and lobbyists when questioned about the ad’s content.
What the Numbers Show
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reviewed by Fox News Digital, Google’s corporate PAC contributed a total of $20,000 to Brown over his political career. Brown also received contributions from individuals who lobby for Google. Lisa Kountoupes, whose firm Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid was hired by Google in December to lobby on permitting reform issues, donated $3,500 to Brown in March. Michael D. Smith, whose firm Cornerstone Government Affairs reported lobbying for Google on permitting reform, grid reliability, and energy affordability, donated a total of $10,200 to Brown since 2017. FEC records also show Brown received a combined $6,000 from three additional Google lobbyists over the past decade. All contributions were made to Friends of Sherrod Brown, his principal campaign committee.
The Bottom Line
The clash over data centers highlights the growing importance of energy infrastructure and corporate influence in Ohio’s Senate race. While Brown’s campaign focuses on the local economic impact of data centers on electric bills, the Husted campaign is leveraging campaign finance disclosures to question Brown’s consistency and credibility on the issue. The outcome of this narrative battle may influence voter sentiment on key economic and energy policies in a state where data center expansion has become a defining political topic.
This article is based on reporting by Fox News Digital and public FEC records. The Husted campaign has not provided additional documentation regarding the specific legislative votes referenced, and Brown’s campaign has not issued a separate statement addressing the contribution history beyond the initial ad response.