Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Ohio, has spent more than $200,000 on a 30-second advertisement responding to attacks from his opponent and an Elon Musk-backed PAC regarding transgender issues, according to AdImpact.
Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its major takeaway.
On the Screen
The ad opens with voters identified as Beth and Warren in Johnstown, Ohio, an agricultural hub just south of Columbus that has historically leaned Republican.
Warren speaks first, looking directly at the camera, and says, “Here they go again, those same attacks against Sherrod Brown.”
The ad then pans to a voter in Granville, a Democratic island in a conservative part of the state, who says, “With everything going on, that’s what they’re talking about?”
As another voter speaks, a text overlay on an image of a dark, empty hospital hallway reads: “IN OHIO IT’S ILLEGAL TO PERFORM TRANSGENDER SURGERIES ON CHILDREN.”
A series of voters in different parts of the state then denounce Senator Jon Husted, Mr. Brown’s Republican opponent, accusing him of voting to increase the cost of groceries, kicking hundreds of thousands of Ohioans off health care, writing a law letting utility companies “jack up our electric bills,” and failing to address the cost of gas.
The ad ends with Beth in Johnstown, who faces the camera and says “John Husted, why don’t you start working for us?”
Mr. Brown is in a high-stakes race against Senator Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill the Senate seat of JD Vance when he left to become vice president. Mr. Brown has faced a torrent of negative advertising focusing on transgender issues.
The Script
“Here they go again, those same attacks against Sherrod Brown. With everything going on, that’s what they’re talking about. In Ohio, it’s against the law to perform transgender surgeries on kids. That’s right, it’s illegal. Jon Husted, why’d you vote to increase the cost of groceries? To do nothing about the cost of gas. You kicked 490,000 Ohioans off their health care. And Jon Husted wrote the law on letting utility companies jack up our electric bills. Jon Husted, why don’t you start working for us? I’m Sherrod Brown and I approve this message.”
Accuracy
The advertisement is correct that an Ohio law passed in 2024, over the Republican governor’s veto, forbids doctors from prescribing medications that assist minors seeking gender transitions. The law also restricts transgender girls and women from competing in girls and women’s sports.
The law is being challenged before the state Supreme Court, which is made up of six Republican justices and one Democrat.
It is misleading to say that Mr. Husted voted to “increase the cost of groceries,” because there was not a specific vote on that issue in the Senate. But he has supported sweeping tariffs and the war with Iran, among other policies, that have contributed to the rising prices, including of groceries and gas.
Mr. Husted also voted for President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill, which included significant cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. The Joint Economic Committee, a bipartisan group, estimated that more that 489,815 Ohioans would lose health insurance as a result of the cuts.
The claim that Mr. Husted wrote a law that allowed utility companies to raise prices is accurate and complicated. Mr. Husted, then a lieutenant governor, was highly involved in passing a 2019 energy law that later became the center of a massive bribery scheme that landed another lawmaker, the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, in prison.
The law allowed utility companies to add extra fees and surcharges to electricity bills as a bailout for two struggling nuclear power plants. Mr. Husted has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing in the high-profile scandal.
The Takeaway
This spot represents a new response to the Republican Party’s effort to use transgender issues to paint Democrats as radical and unelectable, regardless of their specific stances, which tend to be more nuanced than portrayed by their opponents.
Instead of engaging on the topic, Mr. Brown’s campaign is seeking to dismiss it as irrelevant, and a distraction from the economic issues that they hope will drive voters to the polls.
