Data Centers, Tariffs, and Affordability: The Issues Driving Races in Ohio and Maine

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1:01Figure out what matters for your money. Subscribe to the Fox Business rundown podcast on Apple Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Through but it was blocked by Senate Democrats. Democrats want to talk about affordability. When given the chance, they don't want to do anything about it. They would rather have a block a political victory than give the American people a victory. And how do voters in Maine feel after not one but two Senate debates this past week between Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson? The choice that mayors have been given is Troy Jackson saying I'll give you, I'll vote for Medicare for all versus Susan Collins that says, Hey, I'm doing all I can. This is the Fox News rundown from Washington.

2:09One of the last items senators considered before heading out to campaign for midterms was the Rate Pay or Protection Act proposed by Ohio Senator John Houston. The would have required states to consider requiring big tech companies to pay for new power generation transmission and distribution grid upgrades for data centers. It has become a focal point in this Senate race. Houston's opponent former Democratic Senator shared Brown has been critical of Houston on this issue telling a town hall event recently. What happened? John Houston got two and a half billion dollars in tax breaks for these data centers. They gobble up our land. They swallow up our water. They pollute, particularly noise pollution if you near live near one. The National Republican Senate, the committee issued a memo in August calling data centers a sleeper issue for the entire cycle, writing that if voters perceptions of data centers aren't fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio. Fox News polling from mid September found 71 percent oppose a data center being built in their area. 52% are in favor of data centers being built in more remote areas.

3:10So the House overwhelmingly passed this rate payer protection act, but it failed in the Senate, adopting Fox's chief congressional correspondent Chad Pregum to ask this of the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. Was this blocked in the Senate last week by Democrats in the effort to prevent Senator Houston from having a win? Is Confederate Senator Houston's bill is a fraud? Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Cain told reporters before the vote. It doesn't go anywhere. It's completely voluntary. And so everything in that bill can already be done by a state regulator or can already be done by a data center developer. And the bill requires nothing of them. But North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis argued it struck the right balance. It doesn't have any federal overreach of state policy. It's really just setting the tone for what state should do to manage the demand for data centers. So that's one classic example to where they've become so partisan that can't even agree on what it's effectively a resolution recognizing motherhood and apple pie. Those could revisit the legislation after midterms.

4:11Seems like a no brainer in this culture and time. We listen to the voters. Democrats from Republicans do. They want this kind of stuff. Ohio Republican Senator John Houston. 93% of the people in America strongly support it. So and it got through the House 417 to three. 206 Democrats voted for it. Every Democrat in the Ohio delegation voted for it. And we get it over to the Senate. And all they have to do, all the Democrats have to do is not block it. They don't even have to vote for it. But they block it. Most of them don't vote for it. And it's defeated in why? Because Chuck Schumer didn't want Republicans and certainly didn't want me to solve an affordability problem right before the election, which is front and center in the conversation right now. And this is the deal. Democrats want to talk about affordability. But when given the chance, they don't want to do anything about it. They would rather have a block, a political victory than give the American people a victory. Why was it optional? I know Senator Tom Tills was arguing in fact that making it optional was actually a good

5:12thing. And it made it palatable to really almost everybody in the House. What did you make of that argument though that it shouldn't be optional? Well, first of all, they don't have any legislation that passed the House or the Senate. They don't even have a co-sponsor for legislation that does what they're talking about. Why? Because states are in charge of the grids. They're in charge of their own utility rates. And 24 states have already taken action on this. So we didn't want to reverse and put one size fits off federal solution for the states that have already done it. We wanted the other 26 states to take action and this provision required them to take action. And this is why it matters more on electricity than everything else because we're on grids. There's a 13 states that are involved in the grid that Ohio is on. But every states part of a regional transmission authority. And so if you don't get the other states to act, then your state does the right thing and that may help you a little bit, but you're all pulling from the same generation grid.

6:13And so that's why we had to get the other states to act. And if it was good enough, think about this. If 417 people in the House came Jeffree's and Mike Johnson voted for it. AOC and Jim Jordan voted for it. So think about it. Everybody thought it was a good idea, but Chuck Schumer didn't want Republicans to get a win on affordability before the election and address an issue that the American people were asking us to address. And so I'll keep fighting for it. But it's just, it's a glaring example about how obstructionist Democrats are on things that are widely popular. You take that, you take photo ID. They just want to block it all because they just don't want Republicans to get a win. I wonder if on the Rape here protection act, if it's already too late because of that National Republican Senatorial Committee memo that went out and it said, as you know, your race is ground zero for this debate over data centers. And if you lose, it would be this big sign. What did you think when you saw that memo like, geez, no pressure? I think they were trying to wake people up with it to be out there and respond, but I

7:17already was responding on it. I was at the White House, you know, at least six months ago with the president, when he signed the Memorandum of Understanding to force the data centers through executive order to do this. But it needed teeth. It needs more, it needs a law, executive order isn't enough. So I took the very things that everybody had already signed off on, turned it into a piece of legislation, got a coast spot, or got another house sponsor on it to get it done. It was like, look, Democrats wanted to blame Republicans for this. I don't understand how it's a Republican or a Democrat issue. It should be, it's a local issue. If a local community once say, they to center great, if they don't want a data center, then that's fine too. But the electric piece is the one piece that affects people beyond just that local community. And that's why I picked that to focus on. And it was being responsive to people. But I can tell you as I'm out across Ohio, they know now. People know, they're like, they don't really, like they're confused about the issue.

8:19And now they know that, well, John Hustead tried to do something about this and the Democrats stopped him. That just shows, that just shows the voters of Ohio that the Democrats aren't serious about addressing the issue. Your opponent, Sherrod Brown recently said in a campaign stop. He said that you, Senator Hustead, you asked data center and crypto-brosed come in and bail you out. I think that's the reference to the Fair Shake group, their efforts to spend money on this race. And he said that you should listen to the people, end the war in Iran and end the tariffs. There's a lot happening there in that what was a brief sound bite. But how do you respond to all that? Well, he's flailing and he's desperate because he's been over 50 years in office and has, I do this when I go out and I talk to voters. I'm like, Sherrod Brown, been an office since 1975. And you name one thing he's actually done to make your life better and it's always created with silence.

9:19Except occasionally someone says, yes, he lost two years ago and so that made my life better. But this is a guy who's been in office since 1975 was in Washington for 32 years. He is the system. The system that he criticizes, he created. He voted for the unaffordable care act that drove up your insurance bills, your health insurance costs. He voted with the radical environmentalists to close down 23 power plants in Ohio, which eliminated the supply to meet the demand that we need to build more factories and lower electric rates. He was the open border guy who welcomed people to illegally come in this country, supported sanctuary cities and sanctuary states, gave COVID checks, so security money, free health care to people who are in the country illegally. What he's trying to cover up for is he seems to care more about people who are illegally

10:20in this country than he does for American citizens. I don't understand that rationale and he's failed. He has a long record of failure. And so the only thing he can do after 50 years is attack me because he has nothing to damage. Think of pathetic that is, that you were in office for 50 years and he can't talk about one single thing that he has done to make the lives of Ohioans better. It's kind of sad. Okay, so what are you telling people that you have done? We know your Senate career has been brief, but you previous to that had a political career, a state career in Ohio. What are you telling people you've done? Yeah, absolutely. Well, as soon as I got to the US Senate, we passed the Working Family Tax Cut Plan. No tax on tips over time and social security so that people could keep more of what they earned to spend and save on their priorities, including their $2,200 per child tax credit that helps working families in our state a lot. Here's the other thing though. When I was in state government, Ohio was a dying state when I got to the legislature. And over the course of time, we did tax reform, cutting the top income tax rate from 7.25%

11:25to 2.75%. Eliminated the death tax. Reform the business tax code. Indian career tech education. And took Ohio from the 37th worst state to do business to CNBC just rated us the number one state to do business. And in Ohio today, it was announced last week that Ohio has more jobs than we've ever had in the history of our state and the lowest unemployment rate in the history of our state 3.3%. And I was central to all the policies that led to that change in Ohio. And people in Ohio know that because I grew up at a time in Ohio where the factory my dad worked at closed, my family had to leave Ohio because it wasn't a place to go to work. The unemployment rate was 8% and people here know that I've been fighting for their jobs to help their kids get a better education. Another thing that I did is I literally authored and passed the Ed Choice Scholarship in Ohio in 2005 when I was speaker of the house.

12:26That created a statewide voucher program. Started out with 4,000 students. Now it's over 180,000 students in the state of Ohio. They get to go to a school their choice or using that voucher to go to a school their choice that's consistent with the values, the educational goals and what their family wants. So I could go on. I love to talk about the things I've accomplished. He would just talk, wants to talk about the things that are wrong with the world. I'm talking about the things I'm doing to make it right. All right. John Houston of Ohio, thank you so much for your time. Great. Thank you very much. Brussels clean up nicely at Sweet Green. Maple glazed, roasted and edges perfectly caramelized. Sweet Green's fall harvest is back on the menu and the season's most overlooked little green vegetable is dressed to be devoured. You know what to do. Order on the Sweet Green app. The Fox News power rankings show eight Senate battleground races, including Maine,

13:31where a polling average gives the edge to the Democratic candidate, Troy Jackson, over the incumbent Republican Susan Collins, but only by about three points. This past week, the candidates had not won, but two debates. The first on WGM a TV in Portland on October 6. Jackson had this moment where Collins defended her efforts to get President Trump to relax some of the Canadian tariffs. Troy mocked it, but I was successful in getting concrete, pulp and road salt removed from the tariff list. I didn't mock the fact that she got road salt back. I mocked the fact that what about everything else? I mean, we can't eat road salt. And Collins had this moment with Jackson, who was a longtime president of the state Senate after he criticized Medicaid reimbursement rates and pinned that on her and federal lawmakers. Medicaid rates are set by the state. They are not set by the federal government. Medicare rates are set by the federal government.

14:31So it is a gasta that is responsible for the inadequate reimbursements under the Medicaid program. Everything from gas prices to Iran, immigration to social security and, of course, President Trump and socialism were topics of debate. I think regardless of who they ultimately vote for, affordability is top of mind. Professor Nick Jacobs is a political science professor at Colby College in Maine and co-author of the book The Rural Voter, The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America. That's why both candidates are talking about affordability, the increased cost of living. All of these issues with affordability that we're seeing nationwide are hitting mayners harder. I just filled up my oil tank. I almost sent the oil man away. The price of oil is so expensive. We're entering heating season here in Maine. It is the absolute thing that is on everybody's mind. Collins voters though are putting the blame on Augusta. And the fact that Maine, while affordability is a national issue, Maine seems particularly

15:35bad in comparison to the rest of the country. You saw Susan Collins and her debate with Troy make that claim. Troy Jackson is taking the reverse. He's also talking about affordability, but it's all Donald Trump's fault. And mayners are ultimately going to have to choose between those two stories. Okay, let's bring in Professor Daniel Shea also a professor of government at Colby College and co-author of The Book The Rural Voter. What are you noting? Are you noting the same things? Do you see anything else that sort of that you're flagging? Well, I think Nick hit it on the head. It is about affordability heating season. It's going to be a tough hit. I would add to that though that since COVID housing prices have really spiked in Maine, I think they've grown nearly as much as any other state right up at the top, upwards of 80 to 100% growth and housing costs. Again, since COVID, there's a worry that young people can't afford a home. I've got three young kids, three sort of post-college age kids that are worried about being able to afford

16:40to live in Maine. They love the state but it's gotten really expensive. So I think Nick's right and that's tied, of course, to the war in Iran. That's tied to the tariffs, tariffs become a really big issue. Mayners have it tough these days, like voters across the country. But I think it might be a particularly sharp here in a cold weather state. I was reading Maine relies on a home heating oil more than any other state. Having just as the weather turns colder certainly seems significant. How much does that historically affect voters, those types of prices? You're absolutely right. And I mean Maine is also, I think, the only state in which a majority of our residents heat our homes with wood stoves and other things. So it plays out particularly in some really interesting ways here in Maine too because a lot of our heating oil comes from Canada. So when Dan is talking about tariffs and the new development of tariffs, all of that matters.

17:45Not just for consumer goods that people nationwide are buying, but for energy as well. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we actually had difficulty getting tanker ships up here. And we had Susan Collins actually had to plead with the Biden administration for some regulatory changes to get tanker ships that were piloted by foreign vessels to deliver oil. And New England's energy grid is actually predominantly natural gas focus. And so when they weren't crane spike, the natural gas prices went through the roof and that's why we've seen. So I mean, just sort of getting back to the question, it always matters, right? The prices affordability, right? The question you want to ask every voter is, are you better off now than you were four years ago or six years ago when you last voted for Susan? The thing I'd add is that while a lot of new developments have affected prices here in Maine, this is a very long standing development in this state where the prices have been going up, especially with electricity, especially with heating oil for years.

18:59And there's been some patchwork policies that have come out at the federal level, like that regulatory waiver. And at the state level Janet Mills was signing affordability checks, but Maynors are hurt. Let's talk about the debates we've had to this past week. Professor Shay, tell me about some of the moments that may have caught voters. I want to start with Senator Collins saying, for example, that what she listed, what she got off the Canadian tariff list. And she mentioned a few items, including road salt. And Troy Jackson came back and said, well, you can't eat road salt. There was another moment. She said she has had a time without health care. And it was for one year and 94 while running for governor. Did those catch you? I know they caught social media, but were those significant? Yeah, I think I would summarize those points as contrast and style, really. I mean, contrast and focus while the senator is trying to try to keep this race local, what she's done, what she's brought back. Troy Jackson keeps bringing back national issues, keeps bringing back Donald Trump.

20:03Senators pushing her expertise while long questions or long answers about her expertise. While Jackson is trying to just cut to the quick with sort of gut feeling responses. The senator is playing up what she knows and that is federal policy and appropriations. And Jackson to his credit is trying to keep it simple. I think it's fascinating the way Susan, well, she is filling up every second of her response time. Jackson's not. He's cutting to the quick. He's saying things really sort of from his gut. And I think it's a contrast and style. I actually think it might be helping Jackson. Professor Jacobs, when when Troy Jackson accused Senator Collins of hurting Maine with Medicaid reimbursement rates and Collins had to remind him a former state Senate president that no state lawmakers Augusta sets those reimbursement rates. She tried to paint him as someone who may have served in office, but hasn't understood how it all worked. Did that? How did that resonate? I mean, you could you could call it style.

21:05You could also call it just depth of knowledge. And do you really know the job you're applying for? I mean, that cuts both ways. I think there's some obvious signs in their responses that Jackson, you know, that Susan Collins in a way knows her job too well. And if you know as much as she does, you give her the credit because she knows she can't lower tariffs on certain commodity. She knows where there's room to negotiate in bargain and she delivers on those things. She knows the ins and outs of intergovernmental policy and can say this. My committee doesn't have jurisdiction on that. That's a state thing. Does Jackson follow that? I'm sure you could get him in a room and slow him down and like he's knowledge. Only was our Senate president, but certainly on the debate stage, it come across as two different candidates with wildly different depth of knowledge and experience over policy. And when I think again, it depends on if voters are going to, the risk is that they look at Susan and say, you know too much.

22:09You've been there too long as much at the, you're the expert. We should give, we should return you to DC. I think it's interesting to me how he reminds voters that she's chair of appropriations. It's sort of a surprise to me. It's such an important position. And he reminds people over and over. You're the chair of appropriation. You're the chair of thinking, why is he doing that? Well, I think it's what to what Nick was getting at. That is that you know the system. You've been there for an awful long time and you're the head of one of the most important committees and things are still worse in Maine. I think he's trying to, at next point, it's well taken. But look, you know this job very well, Senator Collins, and things are still worse in Maine. Corporate and big donor money has been a critical theme in a lot of races. Trey Jackson sort of did what Abdul Al-Sahed in Michigan did. And that was to say, look, I can't help that a PAC or a committee that helps me takes money from corporations.

23:11I don't take from them directly. But if I work with Chuck Schumer's PAC in Al-Sahed's case, or if I work with the main Senate, you know, Democratic leadership PAC, I don't set the rules. Is this sort of insistence like, well, I don't take from corporations directly. Do voters see that? Do they care about that? I think on that level of detail and scrutiny, it's not going to move the needle on your average voter. All the, I mean, campaign finances are harassed to begin with for a variety of us that follow politics closely. But I will say this. I think with these debates, all I've been watching for is, where's the Gaff? Where's the 10 seconds or the 5 seconds that makes it the ad that we're going to watch at Nazim from now until election day? And she might have gotten one on Jackson and this, this leadership fund that he oversaw he was directing. And he and had lots of corporate money. And you can't avoid corporate money.

24:12Nor can you avoid billionaire donations that get funneled through dark super PACs that support these people. But he pled ignorance in a way that just made him look ignorant. And I think maybe she got her sound bite on him on that particular point. Professor Shayette, way in here, I want to ask about Medicaid briefly. We know Republicans are insisting that they reformed Medicaid last year with added requirements. But this has already resulted in hospitals anticipating less in reimbursement. It's a very hot topic, for example, in Iowa, where hospital units, especially like labor and delivery, they're closing ahead of these reforms, taking effect in 2027. This is a very rural issue. When you talk to rural voters, you guys both wrote a book on this. Is this a big deal in Maine? Jessica, you hit the nail right on the head. It is a very big issue. It is an issue when it comes to affording health care. And there's also about access to health care. You're making long drives in rural America to get to a hospital, you get to a clinic.

25:14And of course, insurance rates are lower than they are in suburban areas. It's a big issue in Maine. I'm not surprised at all that Troy Jackson is pushing it over and over. I think back to that style piece again, where Senator Collins was trying to tell us about the nuances of the big, beautiful bill and what she's tried to do. He simply summed it up by saying, I'm worried about my parents or worried about parents now having health care. Our kids not having health care. Are you a socialist, Senator Jackson? All I can tell you is I'm worried about my neighbors having health care. They need to be able to go to the doctor. I thought that was a really good answer, a really interesting way of side stepping, the label to get at an issue that rural Americans feel day in and day out. It's a great question, Jessica. So just to build on that briefly, health care always jumps to the top. And I teach in a small town, these hospital, one of our hospitals closed last year.

26:20It took me months personally to find a PCP that's now 45 minutes away from my own house out here in Central Maine. So the crisis is real and maternity words as we picked up are closing across the state, particularly in rural communities and our coastal communities. But I guess again, the choice that mayors have been given is Troy Jackson saying, I'll give you, I'll vote for Medicare for All versus Susan Collins that says, hey, I'm doing all I can. I got a rural health transformation fund. Grants from that are actually coming out of the state right now. She, the state has, because of the federal money, went to the states and now the states are awarding the grants conveniently right before the election. And that money is going directly to hospitals. It's going to community paramedicendants, keeping doctors and nurses. There's bigger structural reforms beyond just Medicaid cuts, the way Medicaid reimbursement sort of.

27:20I said, I'd be sure it does matter more for rural hospitals, but we don't even have doctors. That's the problem. Doctors don't even move to these communities. So it's not just Medicaid. Okay, Professor Shae, one more for you here. Tell me about Maine's second congressional district, Democrats here at Golden Not Running. We have former governor, Republican, Paul LePage, up against state auditor, Matt Dunlap. I understand Dunlap is not coming across as very progressive, right? More of a, more of a centrist. How is LePage grappling with that? And is he doing so effectively? Well, the snag, it seems to me for LePage will be turnout, right? So the president, our president Trump is one of the second congressional district, three times actually. And he would probably win it again, but he's not on the ballot. And that's going to be a tough hit for Paul LePage. So the enthusiasm gap in the second district, I think will be real. It's tough for the Trump supporters in rural Maine when they drive by the gas pumps.

28:25So when they fill their own diesel, I think there's a bit of worry about the president's agenda in rural America. They're not by any means if they jumped off the president. They're still with President Trump, but the question is, will they turn out in this election? Matt Dunlap has historically been thought of in Maine as a pretty far-left progressive that is pitching himself a different way. He's tracking to the center. I think it's a nail-biter. I think it'll be a close race. Paul Professor Daniel Shea and Professor Nick Jacobs at Colby College in Maine, thank you so much for your time and insight. We appreciate it. Thank you Jessica. Thank you so much. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweet Greens' Fall Harvest Menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed brussels, and crave worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon brussels side.

29:25The season's most desirable menu has returned to sweet green. Featuring Fall's best dressed. Make your move. Order on the sweet green app. That'll do it for this edition of The Fox News rundown from Washington. Tomorrow Fox's Chief Congressional correspondent tells us who is safe and who may not be in their congressional leadership posts after the midterms. I'm Jessica Bros. and I'll thank you for listening to The Fox News rundown from Washington. Stay Up-dedate by subscribing to this podcast at FoxNewspodcasts.com. Listen Add Free On Fox News Podcasts Plus On Apple Podcasts. And Prime Members Can Listen To The Show Add Free On Amazon Music, and For Up To The Minute News, Go To FoxNews.com Brussels Cleanup Nicely at Sweet Green. Maple glazed, roasted, and edges perfectly caramelized. Sweet Green's fall harvest is back on the menu, and the season's most overlooked little green vegetable

30:27is dressed to be devoured. You know what to do. Order on the Sweet Green app.