Two days before Ohio’s special U.S. Senate election, a new report is raising transparency questions for Sen. Jon Husted: Politico reported Friday that Husted rents a Washington, D.C. apartment in a multifamily house owned by veteran lobbyist David Lugar — and neither Husted nor Lugar will say how much rent he pays.

Lugar is co-chair of 535 Group and chair of The Lugar Group, whose clients include Meta Platforms, Boeing, and Wells Fargo. Senate lobbying disclosures show Meta has paid Lugar’s firm $30,000 a quarter for seven straight quarters — $210,000 in total.

A Husted spokesperson described the arrangement as “strictly a landlord and tenant relationship” at fair market rent. Lugar told Politico he has never lobbied Husted or anyone on Husted’s staff, and federal records show no donations from Lugar to Husted’s campaign.

The facts: no Senate rule prohibits a senator from renting from a lobbyist at market rates. But a below-market deal could trigger gift-rule questions — which is why the undisclosed rent amount is the center of the story.

The disclosure lands days before Tuesday’s Nov. 3 special election, in which Husted faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown. Brown has made Husted’s support for data-center tax breaks a central campaign issue; Meta is building what Politico calls the world’s largest data center in Ohio. The Ohio Democratic Party is framing the apartment as a “sweetheart rent deal”; Husted’s camp calls it a normal tenant relationship.

Also worth noting: Sen. Todd Young of Indiana rents an apartment in the same building.

J News Network (Politico Influence report)
VoteWiser
Ohio Democratic Party