FILE – In this file photo dated October 16, 2018, Jon Husted, then a candidate for governor of Ohio, speaks on the Columbus Chamber of Commerce government day in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now, Husted, the current Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, has stepped into the coronavirus pandemic as one of Ohio’s rising Republican stars. After an uninterrupted rise of two decades from state representative to speaker of the House of Representatives, to state senator, to state secretary and to vice governor, his next stop would be the governor’s residence. But his party’s hard right turn required a clever recalculation.
FILE – In this file photo dated Jan. 30, 2014, then Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted speaks at a legislative forum in Columbus, Ohio. Now, Husted, the current Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, has stepped into the coronavirus pandemic as one of Ohio’s rising Republican stars. After an uninterrupted rise of two decades from state representative to speaker of the House of Representatives, to state senator, to state secretary and to vice governor, his next stop would be the governor’s residence. But his party’s hard right turn required a clever recalculation.
FILE – In this file photo dated Oct. 16, 2018, Jon Husted speaks at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Government Day in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now, Husted, the current governor of Ohio, has stepped into the coronavirus pandemic as one of Ohio’s rising Republican stars. After an uninterrupted rise of two decades from state representative to speaker of the House of Representatives, to state senator, to state secretary and to vice governor, his next stop would be the governor’s residence. But his party’s hard right turn required a clever recalculation.
Reported by JULIE CARR SMYTH and FARNOUSH AMIRI for America / Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Warming up a crowd with a joke is a political trade ploy. Ohio Republican Governor Jon Husted had no doubt used the technique successfully dozens of times before.
But one day last September things went very badly.
53-year-old Husted was back in southwest Ohio, where he had spent decades as a college football star, professional economist, and lawmaker, launching a rally for the re-election of then-President Donald Trump. His joke was an attempt to encourage the wearing of masks. Not only did the crowd not laugh, they booked.
“All right, I see,” he said at last, clumsily ending his joke that those forced to wear masks in grocery stores “can at least say you are trying to save the country” by being a Trump 2020 theme wear face covering. Even though he was there promoting the work he and Republican Governor Mike DeWine were doing to elect Trump, someone said, “Get off the stage.”
It was a defining moment for Husted, the right-wing governor’s man who was constantly grieved by the party’s Trump wing over COVID-19 restrictions in Ohio.
In light of this reception, Husted has increasingly used provocative rhetoric on social media over the past year – most recently interrupted by a tweet with the phrase “Wuhan virus,” classified as flammable by health experts and Asian Americans – even if its tone is moderate in regular coronavirus briefings.
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