Full Breakdown
Brown’s Ohio Senate Ad Blames Husted for Data-Center Boom While Highlighting His Own Google Ties
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
The ad, released in early September, features a Google-owned facility that opened in Lancaster in 2023 and links the expansion to higher electric bills for Ohio residents. The campaign narrative juxtaposes Husted’s support for the industry with Brown’s own history of receiving financial contributions from Google-related sources.
Background & Context
Ohio now hosts 226 data centers, a growth that state officials credit to incentives and infrastructure support. Since then, Brown has positioned himself as a critic of the industry, arguing that Ohioans should decide locally whether such facilities are built. President Donald Trump has also advocated for expanding data centers, warning that communities that block them could fall behind.
Official Statements & Responses
Husted’s campaign spokesperson Amy Natoce countered that Brown “failed Ohio families” during his 32-year tenure in Washington and accused him of “once again resorting to lies.” GOP strategist and attorney Mehek Cooke criticized Brown for “Jekyll-and-Hyde politics,” questioning why Google’s political money was acceptable to Brown while the company’s Lancaster investment is portrayed as harmful.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Apparently Google is terrible enough to put in a campaign attack ad, but perfectly acceptable when the political contributions are coming in,” — Mehek Cooke, a GOP strategist and attorney in Ohio
- “Husted is a ‘chief reason’ Ohio has 226 data centers and is ‘the face of data centers’ in Ohio,” — Lauren Chou
- “The House overwhelmingly passed Sen. Husted’s bipartisan legislation requiring data center companies to pay for the power they use, but Senate Democrats blocked it,” — Amy Natoce, husted campaign spokesperson
Data & Statistics
- The ad spotlights a Google data center that opened in 2023.
- Federal Election Commission records show Google’s corporate PAC contributed $20,000 to Brown over his career.
- Individual Google lobbyists donated $3,500 (Lisa Kountoupes, March) and $10,200 (Michael D. Smith, since 2017) to Brown’s principal campaign committee, Friends of Sherrod Brown.
- Additional contributions from three other Google lobbyists total $6,000 over the past decade.
These figures underscore the campaign’s focus on the intersection of Ohio’s data-center expansion, energy costs, and the flow of corporate money into state politics.
