Jon Husted

Jon Husted
Ohio Secretary of State
Incumbent
In office
2010 - Present
Term ends
2014
Years in position	3
Party	Republican
Websites
Office website

Jon Husted (born August 25, 1967, in Royal Oak, Michigan) is the current Republican Secretary of State for Ohio. Prior to this, he served as a member of both chambers of the Ohio State Legislature - eight years as a state representative and one year as a state senator.

Education

• Bachelor's degree, University of Dayton (1989)
• Master's degree, University of Dayton (1993)

Professional experience

By the time he completed his time as a graduate student and received his master's degree, Husted had been employed in three major professions. During this time, he served as Vice-President of Business & Economic Development for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Deputy Campaign Manager of Davis for Congress, and Public Relations Account Executive for David K. Burnap Advertising. From 1993 until 1997, Husted was a Commission Assistant for Montgomery County Commissioner, Don Lucas. Simultaneously, he also served as a Color Commentator for his alma mater, the University of Dayton, during their football radio and television broadcasts. Since 1997, Husted has acted as both Director and Vice President of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Political career

State Legislature

In November 2000, Husted was elected in a five-way race to serve as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives for the 41st district. Seven years later, he was named Speaker of the House. Political critics claimed he received the position thanks largely to the "covert" efforts of the non-profit political advocacy group, Citizens for Conservative Values (CCV). Soon after being named Speaker of the House, however, Husted pushed a campaign-finance bill that forced more disclosure from issue advocacy groups, such as CCV. Husted's relationship with state Conservative-Republicans has been a tumultuous, at best. Though he was able to successfully pass through legislation expanding the state school voucher program, in addition to a tax restructuring plan that included a twenty-one percent cut in personal income taxes, his failure to bring up an outright ban on all forms of abortion as well as his blocking of bill in February 2006 that would have made it illegal for gays to adopt has rankled conservative supporters. The situation was made all the more afflictive when nine months later state Democrats took back the governor's mansion and reduced the Republican majority in the House to a thin margin. Husted championing of a green energy push in the state's energy bill and his arm twisting of Republican colleagues to pass the legislation, which included capping payday loans at 28 percent, was the final straw for a number of state conservatives.

Faced with a term limit restriction in regards to his State House position, Husted decided to run for the State Senate in November 2008 and was elected to serve in the public office by the people of the sixth state senate district.

Committee assignments

State Senator Husted served on the following legislative committees during his tenure:

• Education (Member)
• Enviroment and Natural Resources (Member)
• Government Oversight (Chair)
• Rules (Member)

Secretary of State

On April 3, 2009, he announced his candidacy for the office of secretary of state, the seat being vacated by Democrat Jennifer Brunner, who ran for the Democratic nomination for United States Senate; she ultimately lost the election to Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher.

Controversies

Lobbyists

• In 2003, Husted accepted $2,500 in campaign contributions from Thomas Noe, an Ohio Republican Party fundraiser and activist. Three years later, Noe plead guilty of money laundering for the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential re-election campaign.
• On Memorial Day Weekend in 2005, Husted, along with his son, Alex, flew off with three lobbyists for a fishing trip at a time when "the state's $51.2 billion budget was being debated." While the state representative's office denied that these lobbyists were engaged in political activities, a website for one of the firms "proudly proclaimed that they could create personal relationships with legislators on behalf of their clients."

Residency

In what appeared at the time to be a last-minute attempt to derail Husted's state senatorial campaign just days before the election, a progressive political action group, Progress Ohio, requested that the Montgomery County Board of Elections investigate the residency of the State House Speaker. About two months later, Husted was called to testify before the board to address the allegation. In time, he admitted that while he owned and paid taxes on a house in Kettering, where he was also registered to vote, he had not lived there for years, instead residing with his family in Upper Arlington.

The divided Board of Elections requested that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner break the tie. On September 22, 2009, Brunner "ruled Husted no longer eligible to vote in his state senate district outside Dayton based on where his wife and family reside outside of Columbus." Critics, while certainly not rising to Husted's complete defense, noted the political hypocrisy in the whole episode, pointing out that accusations that future Governor Ted Strickland's "official residence was a tiny shack above his campaign headquarters" were shrugged off.

Two weeks later, however, the Ohio State Supreme Court reversed the secretary of state's decision and ordered the "Montgomery County Board of Elections to keep Husted’s name on their voting records as a registered voter." Additionally, the State Supreme Court criticized the argument on which Brunner had based her decision on, declaring that Husted "could not be considered to have lost his Montgomery County residence when he left the county for the temporary purpose of working as a state legislator in Franklin County with the intention of returning when that state service ends."

Tea Party

It wasn't long after Husted aired his first television campaign advertisement, the premier political commercial in Ohio's 2010 secretary of state election, that the supposed conservative candidate drew the ire of the state's tea party movement. The thirty-second ad, which starts off with the image of a waving “Don’t tread on me” flag, a common sight at tea party protests across the country, was roundly scorned by conservative tea partiers, among them the Ohio Liberty Council and the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots, two of the major tea party organizations in the state.

Ralph King, who heads the Cleveland Patriots, called out Husted over his identification as a member of the political movement, arguing that "the only relation Jon Husted would have with the Tea Party is if he would have been driving the British ship into Boston Harbor." Another tea party leader, Chris Littleton of the Ohio Liberty Council, said that the Ohio state senator lacks the "street cred" to be fully accepted by state tea party activists, specifically noting his support for the renewal of the Third Frontier legislation, which would allocate $700 million to fund efforts by Ohio-based companies and research institutions to develop high-tech products.

Other roles

• Governor's Appointee, Local Option Workforce Investment Board
• Board Member, Tech Prep Consortium
• Member, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce
• Member, Kettering Enterprise Zone Review Board
• Member, Montgomery County Workforce Development Board
• Member, The Ohio Arts Council

Elections

2000

• 2000 Race for State House of Representatives, District 41 - Republican Primary

• Jon Husted ran unopposed in this contest

2000 Race for State House of Representatives, District 41 - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jon Husted	50.4%
	Democratic Party	Dick Church Jr.	38.3%
	Independent	Richard Hartman	8.1%
	Libertarian Party	Bryan Carey	1.9%
	Independent	Charles Turner	1.4%
Total Votes			48,834

2002

• 2002 Race for State House of Representatives, District 37 - Republican Primary

• Jon Husted ran unopposed in this contest

2002 Race for State House of Representatives, District 37 - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jon Husted	64.4%
	Democratic Party	Gabrielle Williamson	35.6%
Total Votes			34,871

2004

• 2004 Race for State House of Representatives, District 37 - Republican Primary

• Jon Husted ran unopposed in this contest

2004 Race for State House of Representatives, District 37 - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jon Husted	65.0%
	Democratic Party	John Doll	35.0%
Total Votes			56,130

2006

• 2006 Race for Ohio House of Representatives, District 37 - Republican Primary and General Election
  • Jon Husted ran unopposed in both contests

2008

• 2008 Race for State Senate, District 6 - Republican Primary

• Jon Husted ran unopposed in this contest

2008 Race for State Senate, District 6 - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jon Husted	61.5%
	Democratic Party	John Doll	38.6%
Total Votes			169,191

2010

See also: Ohio Secretary of State election, 2010

2010 Race for Secretary of State - Republican Primary
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jon Husted	67.3%
	Republican Party	Sandy O'Brien	32.7%
Total Votes			741,679

Jon Husted for Ohio Secretary of State Campaign logo

2010 Race for Secretary of State - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jon Husted	54.0%
	Democratic Party	Maryellen O'Shaughnessy	41.1%
	Libertarian Party	Charles R. Earl	4.9%
Total Votes			3,652,074

Campaign contributions

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Jon Husted's donors each year. Click [show] for more information.

Jon Husted's Campaign Contributions
	2008 Ohio Secretary of State
Total Raised	$5,512,513
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$1,042,666 (Dem)
Top 5 contributors	Ohio Republican Party	$2,227,859
	Summit County Republican Party	$75,000
	Summit County Republican Central Committee	$75,000
	George S Repchick II	$28,800
	David L Brennan	$22,695
Individuals	$2,590,317
Institutions	$400,360
In-state donations	$5,208,449
Out-of-state donations	$297,605

Personal

Husted currently resides in Kettering, Ohio with his wife, Tina, and their two children - Alex and Katie. He is also a practicing Roman Catholic.

Contact Information

Capitol Address:

Ohio Secretary of State
180 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Phone: (614) 466-2655
Toll Free Phone: (877) 767-6446

See also

• Secretary of State
• Ohio Secretary of State

External links

Suggest a link

• Jon Husted for Secretary of State official campaign website
• Senate website
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
• Campaign Contributions: 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000
• Jon Husted's Facebook profile
• Jon Husted's Twitter account

References

Political offices
Preceded by Don Mottley	Ohio State House - District 37 2001–2009	Succeeded by Peggy Lehner
Preceded by Peggy Lehner	Ohio State Senate - District 6 2009–2010	Succeeded by NA
Preceded by Jennifer Brunner	Ohio Secretary of State 2010–present	Succeeded by NA

This state official-related article is in the process of being updated.