Jon Husted

Jon Husted, a United States Senator from Ohio, has never been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing. However, his career has been closely associated with a $60 million bribery scandal involving the utility company FirstEnergy and the legislative passage of House Bill 6, a $1 billion nuclear power plant bailout. While Husted has consistently denied any involvement in the creation of the legislation or knowledge of criminal activity, public records, including his calendars and text messages between indicted executives, show he held numerous meetings and calls with key figures in the scheme, including former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, former House Speaker Larry Householder, and former utility regulator Sam Randazzo. Evidence presented in court indicated that FirstEnergy executives identified Husted as a contact who pushed for subsidies within the bill. Furthermore, investigations revealed that a dark-money nonprofit, which received $1 million from FirstEnergy internally marked as "Husted campaign," benefited his 2018 gubernatorial bid. Husted served as a defense witness in the 2026 criminal trial of former FirstEnergy executives. Additionally, Husted has faced scrutiny regarding campaign contributions from Centene, a Medicaid provider that settled Ohio fraud allegations for $88.3 million, though he has not been accused of criminal misconduct regarding those funds.