By Bo Erickson
VANDALIA, OHIO Oct 3 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump struck a combative tone at a Saturday rally in Ohio, where Republicans are locked in a competitive Senate race as they seek to protect their narrow congressional majority.
"Just get out and vote," Trump said at a rally for US Senator Jon Husted, gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and other Republicans. "If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big, and we're going to shove it up their ass."
Multiple incumbent
Republican senators across the country face tough political headwinds, with Trump's popularity falling in recent months as higher prices persist for gasoline and other staples amid the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Polls have suggested that Democrats could gain ground in the midterm elections, but Trump said Republicans would do better than critics expect. "I think we're going to have a big surprise because they don't know what's happening," he told the crowd in Vandalia, Ohio.
Husted, a Republican in a competitive Ohio race against Democrat Sherrod Brown, hopes the president can motivate Trump supporters who might otherwise skip midterm elections.
At the rally, Husted invoked American sacrifice and patriotism.
"I am not asking you to winter at Valley Forge," Husted told the crowd, citing episodes from three American wars. "I am not asking you to serve at Gettysburg. I am not asking you to storm the beaches of Normandy. I’m asking you to get out and vote. Will you do it?"
A spokesperson for Brown's campaign criticized Husted for backing Trump's policy on Iran, and said he supported "sweetheart tax deals" that lured data centers to Ohio.
"Jon Husted puts corporations and billionaires first every time, and we all pay for it," Brown spokesperson Lauren Chou said in an email to Reuters.
Husted said Brown accomplished little in his political career.
"He's been in office for 50 years, can you name one thing that he has done for you?" Husted said at the rally.
Trump garnered more than 55% of the Ohio vote in the 2024 presidential election, but economic concerns since then have sunk his approval ratings.
Ohio gasoline prices increased 35% over the past year to $4.16 per gallon on average, according to AAA, which compiles data on automobile travel. Trump's trade policy with Canada has led to retaliatory Canadian tariffs that affect about $3 billion worth of Ohio exports, based on 2025 figures, according to a CBC report.
Talking to reporters shortly before addressing Saturday's rally, Husted said the US has to win the Iran war "on our terms" and in the interim, he is "showing people that I'm fighting for lower prices."
He spoke to a sympathetic crowd at the rally, but he also needs to sell his message to people like independent voter Jonathan Smith.
Smith, a 19-year-old construction worker, held a sign reading, "Where are my lower gas prices?" outside his former high school in Vandalia, north of Dayton.
"I've got a wedding to save up for, and with gas prices continuously going up, it's getting harder and harder to put aside money," said Smith, adding he is still deciding who to vote for in the Senate race.
DATA CENTERS DEBATE
Trump has pledged 32 days of campaigning leading up to the midterm elections. He started this week in deeply conservative areas such as north Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama that offered the president a warm reception.
Ohio is among eight US Senate races rated competitive. The state has turned into a campaign battlefield over data centers and culture war issues such as youth transgender surgeries.
Outside political groups have poured tens of millions of dollars into Ohio, making Husted-Brown the second-most-expensive Senate race in the country, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Rallygoers shared mixed opinions on the hot-button issue of data center construction in the state.
"I'm not huge on the AI data centers," Samuel Clevenger, 20, said when discussing Husted's candidacy. But the apprentice plumber said he is encouraged to vote by Trump's attention to the state, as well as his 2025 policy capping taxes on overtime.
On the other side of the rally venue, Brenda White, 60, held a sign encouraging building in her northeastern Ohio town: "DATA CENTER SOUTH LORAIN."
As Husted met voters in the bleachers, she urged the senator to support the center's construction in place of a steel mill. "You want a data center there?" Husted asked.
Before White posed for her photo with Husted, a man in the senator's entourage asked: "Can we do it without the sign?"
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Sergio Non, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Rod Nickel and Deepa Babington)
