Jon Husted is a Republican United States Senator from Ohio. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appointed him on January 17, 2025 to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance on becoming Vice President; Husted had served as DeWine's lieutenant governor since 2019, and before that in the Ohio House and Senate and for eight years as Ohio Secretary of State (Source: thehill.com). He must win the 2026 special election to serve the remainder of Vance's term, with a full term next contested in 2028 (Source: thehill.com).
AI legislation
Husted's legislative activity on AI falls in two areas.
Minors and companion chatbots. He introduced the Children Harmed by AI Technology Act as S.2714 on September 4, 2025 as sole sponsor, and announced a revised, tiered version — the CHAT Act 2.0 — with Senator Andy Kim on July 29, 2026. See CHAT Act and CHAT Act 2.0 for the provisions of both. His office situates the bills in a sequence of child-online-safety measures including Sammy's Law and the No Fentanyl on Social Media Act (Source: husted.senate.gov).
Export controls and China. He introduced the China AI Power Report Act (S. 5382) on August 7, 2026, which would task the Commerce and State departments with an annual review of China's AI chip supply chain, due 180 days after enactment and annually for three years. The bill creates an assessment obligation rather than any control authority. See US-China AI Competition: Different Races, Different Metrics (Source: nextgov.com).
He was among the senators Sam Altman met on Capitol Hill on July 29, 2026, in the period following the Hugging Face evaluation-security incident; Altman said the incident was discussed "a little bit" and was not the focus of the meetings (Source: reuters.com).
Data centers. John Thune said on September 14, 2026 that the Senate could take up data-center legislation sponsored by Husted if the House passed it that week. No article body for this claim could be retrieved and it rests on newsletter text alone; the bill is not otherwise identified (Source: semafor.com).
Husted introduced S. 5028, the Ratepayer Protection Act, on July 16, 2026; it was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Its text is substantively the same as H.R. 9340 as passed by the House on September 16, 2026, which adds a large-load cost-recovery standard to PURPA that states must consider and may decline (Source: congress.gov; Ratepayer Protection Act, H.R. 9340 — text as reported in the House (September 10, 2026)). Husted's office said in July he would "continue working with ENR to get the Ratepayer Protection Act across the finish line in the Senate" (Source: eenews.net).
Data centers in the 2026 Ohio race
Husted's 2026 opponent is former Senator Sherrod Brown, who served three Senate terms and lost Ohio's other seat to Bernie Moreno in November 2024 (Source: thehill.com).
The National Republican Senatorial Committee memorandum of August 18, 2026 describes data-center opposition as the most damaging line of attack in the race — "more than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted's neck" — and states that Brown has run three television advertisements totalling more than 6,000 points on the subject. The memorandum calls the race "a dead heat" and "still a toss-up" on the committee's private polling; a Fox News poll released the week of August 10, 2026 showed Brown leading by 8 points (NRSC — Ohio Data Center Risk (memorandum, August 18, 2026); Source: axios.com).
No public statement by Husted on data-center siting is recorded here as of August 20, 2026; the position the memorandum ascribes to "a Republican candidate" — local approval by vote plus full cost recovery — is the committee's formulation rather than a quotation from him.
Relationships
- related: CHAT Act and CHAT Act 2.0 — sponsor.
- related: US-China AI Competition: Different Races, Different Metrics — sponsor of the China AI Power Report Act.
- related: National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) — the committee whose memorandum concerns his race.
- related: Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics — the issue the memorandum identifies as decisive in the race.
- related: Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) — sponsor of the Senate companion, S. 5028.