Trump’s midterm pitch to Ohio: Sherrod Brown and Democrats will do the ‘exact same thing again’ 

If Democrat Sherrod Brown wins the Ohio Senate race, open borders, transgender surgeries for minors, and men playing in women’s sports will come back.

That was President Donald Trump’s pitch to voters at a Youngstown, Ohio, rally on Monday, in his second visit to the state in October. Republican Sen. Jon Husted is facing a tight re-election contest against Brown, a former senator, while Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is locked in a gubernatorial race against Democrat Amy Acton.

Although Trump won Ohio by more than 11 points in 2024, a recent CNN poll indicates Brown is leading Husted by six percentage points, as voters express dissatisfaction with the economy and cost of living. Acton is leading Ramaswamy by eight percentage points, the same poll found.

“President Trump is back in Ohio for the second time in nine days because the Buckeye State is a top priority in this year’s midterms,” RNC spokesman Hunter Lovell told Heartlander News when asked about the rally. “From the Mahoning Valley to Cincinnati, families are seeing Republicans deliver bigger paychecks, good-paying jobs, and safer neighborhoods. Democrats want to undo that progress, and hardworking Ohioans aren’t going to let them.” The DNC did not return a request for comment. 

Trump on Monday seized on Brown’s long history in politics – spanning more than five decades – saying he “spent 52 years in office selling out Ohio.” He also told Ohio voters it makes no sense to send back a senator they already rejected in 2024, when Brown lost to Sen. Bernie Moreno.

“Sherrod Brown is the candidate of the Marxists, the communists, the anti-American radicals who want to tear down America’s heritage, and you threw him out because he did so badly on inflation, the border,” Trump said, adding that Brown served as senator “during a very dark period for our country.”

Trump said the last time Brown and “the radical Democrats had power,” it resulted in “the worst inflation in American history,” and allowed millions of people to pour in across the U.S. border illegally: “They came from prisons. They were drug dealers. They were rapists. They were murderers.”

“And if they win the midterms, they will do the exact same thing again,” Trump added.

“He wants to see men playing in women’s sports. He wants to see the transgender mutilation of your children,” Trump said. “You know, it’s one vote, but that one vote can steer Congress into a direction that you’re not going to be happy with, and it’s not Ohio values.”

Heartlander News reached out to Brown’s campaign for its response to Trump’s remarks, but did not hear back.

Trump also wished the crowd a happy Columbus Day, using the occasion to showcase how Democrats “took that name away” and how he restored it. 

“They took the name away from our country. They took the name, really away from Italian Americans, and we said we’re not going to let that stand,” Trump said of the holiday. “We have to keep winning because they’ll do it again. They’ll do it again. Sherrod Brown’s daughter voted to rip down the 22-foot statue of Christopher Columbus right in the heart of the city.”

Husted, whose campaign did not return a request for comment, spoke at the rally, crediting Trump with restoring manufacturing in Ohio. “Mr. President, you helped bring this region back and this state to prominence,” Husted said. “And I’ll tell you what, we are going to do everything that we can to win on November 3.”

With three weeks until Election Day, Trump said he is doing “a rally a night” and will likely do two to three rallies per day in the final week.

“I don’t know why the hell I’m doing it. I’m not running, but I am running,” he said, “and you’re going to promise me you’re going to get out and vote.” 

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/C-Span)