Comments from the two men likely to face off in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race in November show how the politics of immigration have shifted dramatically over the past few months.
On Friday, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, issued a statement calling on President Donald Trump to delay revoking legal immigration status for Ohio’s Haitian community. Then, later in the day, he went out of his way to call on Trump to fire U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“She should be fired or let go,” Brown told reporters during a campaign stop in Columbus. “But bringing ICE in means these communities are less safe. We should fund police departments better. Ohio has cut funding for local police, and they’re the ones that make the community safe, not ICE.”
The previous day, Republican Sen. Jon Husted also commented on Noem’s job performance during a live interview on CNN. While he worded it delicately, he made clear that he thinks there is room for improvement.
Asked whether Noem should keep her job, Husted pivoted to praising Trump’s decision to send “border czar” Tom Homan to take over for Noem in Minnesota.
“I’m going to let President Trump make that determination,” Husted said. “But right now, we need to focus on getting a reset done in Minneapolis, make sure the investigation and evidence are revealed in a very transparent way … and restoring the trust of the American people in how ICE operates in our country.”
Husted also said Homan would help dial down tensions in Minnesota, where federal law enforcement and the shooting deaths of two protesters have sparked demonstrations and scrutiny.
What it means
Reading between the lines: Brown, like many other Democrats, spent the 2024 election on the defensive over immigration. Consider the ad cut by Brown’s campaign that year featuring Brown in a boat with a Republican county sheriff visiting the U.S. / Mexico border. If immigration is a loser for Democrats, as some have said privately, it would make some political sense to avoid the topic altogether.
But now Brown is going on the offensive.
The opposite is true of Husted: He’s defending Trump’s decisions and acknowledging there were problems that needed to be fixed.
Taken in whole, Brown is acting like he has the upper hand on this specific issue; Husted looks more like he’s doing damage control.
Offering a completely different take is Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, who defeated Brown in the 2024 election and doesn’t have to run for reelection until 2030.
Moreno’s most notable recent public input on ICE was to share a long X post that blamed Minnesota officials and Democrats for “getting people killed” by criticizing ICE and encouraging public resistance.
‘A thief and a liar’: FirstEnergy trial starts
The state’s prosecution of a power company’s alleged $4.3 million plot to bribe the chair of the Public Utilities of Ohio for favors began in earnest Tuesday.
As Jake wrote after opening statements, prosecutors described an open-and-shut quid pro quo. FirstEnergy, via CEO Chuck Jones and Senior Vice President of External Affairs Mike Dowling, paid Sam Randazzo $4.3 million in January 2019. A few weeks later, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Randazzo to the top job. And Randazzo led the PUCO on rulings that benefitted FirstEnergy, enriching the defendants via a stock bump.
Assistant Attorney General Matt Meyer’s guidance to jurors: the facts are simple, but the excuses will be complicated.
To that end, defense lawyers say the $4.3 million wasn’t a bribe. It was supposed to be a settlement payment for Randazzo’s legal clients stemming from a 2015 PUCO case, as enshrined in a consulting contract between FirstEnergy and a paper-only business Randazzo controlled. Instead, Randazzo stole the purported settlement money, without their knowledge, according to the defense.
Randazzo died by suicide before facing state and federal charges, so we’ll never hear what he has to say about it. His attorney didn’t respond to an inquiry after opening statements.
Jake is keeping tabs on the trial. But there are plenty of other inquiring minds on the Zoom showing the proceedings in Akron. Viewers are asked but not required to write their names. We noticed former lawmaker Gene Krebs, Common Cause Ohio Director Catherine Turcer, Democratic operatives Katie Seewer and Chris Redfern, lobbyists Jim Samuel and Shawn Nelson, FBI Special Agent Blane Wetzel (who managed a related investigation) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter watching the same show.
Former Ohio congressional candidate squeezes the Lemon
Federal prosecutors charged prominent journalist Don Lemon last week, accusing him of conspiring with others to deprive them of their rights to religious freedom and interfering with those rights. Lemon has said he followed activists, who showed up to protest federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, to a church where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a preacher.
“It’s obviously concerning any time journalists are arrested in connection with their reporting,” said Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “To our knowledge, it’s unprecedented for the Justice Department to deploy the federal laws it has previously cited in this case against journalistic activity.”
Southwest Ohioans may recognize a prosecutor on the case: Orlando Sonza. Before Trump appointed Sonza to the DOJ’s civil rights division, Sonza ran and lost an open-seat congressional race to now-incumbent Rep. Greg Landsman. Ohio Republican Party Alex Triantifilou glowingly touted Sonza’s association with the case in a post on X.
“Orlando is a longtime friend having run for state senate and Congress from Ohio,” Triantafilou said. “He is a brilliant, principled, ethical man!”
Dennis Deters reappointed to the PUCO
Gov. Mike DeWine re-appointed Dennis Deters to a five-year term on the PUCO. He was first appointed by DeWine in 2019, meaning he was present for the bulk of the FirstEnergy/Randazzo scandal.
Along with Dennis Deters, DeWine had previously appointed Joe Deters, Dennis’ brother, to the Ohio Supreme Court when a seat opened.
Ramaswamy PAC returns cash
As we’ve previously reported, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy on Dec. 2 canceled a scheduled appearance for an IT industry group’s conference after receiving online criticism from the political right for agreeing to the event.
The following day, a federal super PAC supporting Ramaswamy’s run for governor returned a six-figure check from the group, a new campaign finance filing shows.
VPAC: Victors Not Victims returned the $275,000 contribution from IT Serve Alliance on Dec. 3, the filing shows. The super PAC had accepted $175,000 from the group on Nov. 18 and $100,000 on Dec. 1.
In the news
Democrats show fundraising improvement: Democrat Amy Acton has raised $5.3 million for her campaign for governor, according to a new campaign finance report, nearly double what 2022 Democratic nominee Nan Whaley raised during a similar time period. Meanwhile, Ohio House Democrats have raised $1 million, compared to the $184,700 they raised ahead of the 2022 election.
Those totals still significantly trail Republicans – including governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who’s obliterating state fundraising records – but are a sign of increasing Democratic confidence heading into the 2026 election. Read more from Andrew Tobias.
Tense in Springfield: Fears of a potentially looming – and completely unconfirmed – federal immigration raid are affecting life in Springfield. Community groups are organizing what amounts to resistance training, while a community leader says many Haitians have decided to lay low. Read more from Andrew Tobias.
On campus: Many of Ohio’s 14 public colleges and universities don’t publicly share their policies for how they would deal with ICE showing up on campus. But Ohio University, Ohio State University and the University of Toledo are among those that do. Read more from Amy Morona here.
On the clock: A citizen group trying to repeal a new law banning intoxicating hemp products has cleared a key regulatory hurdle. Attorney General Dave Yost approved the group’s petition paperwork on Tuesday, which means it now can start trying to gather the roughly 250,000 signatures it needs from around the state to put the law up for a statewide vote in November. The effort has about six weeks to do so or the law will go into effect. Read more from Andrew Tobias.
Experts? Members of the Ohio Industrial Commission, which hears workers’ compensation disputes, must have six years of “recognized expertise.” All three commissioners appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine are entirely unqualified, according to lawsuits reviewed by Jake Zuckerman.