Ladies and gentlemen, it's great to be here. And if you've followed anything about my [Inaudible] you know, I've been all over the country. In the past few weeks, I've been to Alaska, Texas, I've been to North Carolina, I've -- I was going to say the great state of Michigan, but I'd get snowed in this crowd.
But I've got to say, as thrilled as I've been and gratified as I've been by the amazing welcome I've gotten all over the country, every time the plane gets close to Ohio, I think, man, I want to go home. And having earned a lot of frequent flier miles over the past few weeks, let me just say, ladies and gentlemen, as much as I love all 50 states, it is good to be home in the great state of Ohio. [Audience chants "USA"]
Now, I want to start -- I want to start by shouting out a few friends who are with us today, first of all, one of the very best Congressmen anywhere in the country, but right here in southwestern Ohio, my dear friend, Warren Davidson. Warren, thank you for everything you do. I know we've got an amazing guy running for Congress here in the first district of the state of Ohio.
We have got the amazing Eric Conroy. Eric, where are you at? There he is. Now, Eric Conroy is a career public servant; he is not a politician, but he has spent his entire life fighting for the American people, first in the United States Air Force, a proud veteran of the Air Force, and then at the CIA. So, he could tell you a lot about what he did at the CIA, but then he'd have to kill you.
That's the -- but here's the thing about Eric Conroy is, as amazing of a guy as he is, I will tell you, he's got to work a little bit on how he pours a beer. Because a couple of weeks ago, Eric and I visited Price Hill Chili, of course, any Westsider would know about Price Hill Chili. And I have to say, Eric, you made me look pretty good because I think the vice president was better at pouring a beer than Eric Conroy was.
But more importantly, Eric is a fighter. He is a fighter for the people of the United States of America, he's been a fighter in the Air Force, and he is going to fight for the people of the first district every single day in Washington, DC. Eric's going to defend your tax cuts, Eric is going to fight for safe streets.
And most importantly, he is going to fight for a secure southern border to stop the poison from coming into our communities. And he's going to stop the Democrats from undoing the incredible progress that we've made over the last 20 months. And to the folks from the first district, let me tell you this, I think you deserve a change.
Because look at what you're dealing with in your current Congressman, a far-left Democrat by the name of Greg Landsman. [Audience boos]
Now, this is a man whose old boss and former mentor was Nancy Pelosi. [Audience boos]
And I happen to think -- now, I happen to think that if your boss and mentor is Nancy Pelosi, you do not deserve to represent the great people of Cincinnati in the United States Congress. Now, I will say, though, in Greg's defense, while he has not done a good job for you in Congress, he has made some pretty savvy stock trades, and he's lined his pockets in the process.
But even when he's been making those very savvy stock trades, he still found a little bit of time to vote with the radicals in his own party again and again and again. [Audience boos]
He fought with Nancy Pelosi and AOC on defunding the police. Greg Landsman fought with AOC and Nancy Pelosi on ending bail and releasing these criminals into our communities. [Audience boos]
He fought with AOC on transing our kids and letting men play in women's sports. [Audience boos]
All while the people of Cincinnati suffered under Biden's crippling inflation and wide-open southern border. And if Greg Landsman had his way, he would take our country right back to where we were four years ago. He would raise your taxes; he would bring us back to the highest inflation in 40 years; he would invite thousands of criminals pouring over the southern border each and every sib- --~Note
[A protester calls out, interrupting the rally.]
[Audience chants "USA"] OK, ladies and gentlemen, now that guy -- that guy, he was trying to pretend to be MAGA.
Do you know how he -- you notice how he took off his Make America Great Again hat and threw it down. Here's the problem, ladies and gentlemen, he told on himself because when he took that hat off, it was very obvious that he has not washed his hair in about three months. And we all know that the people who haven't washed their hair in three months, they vote for Democrats, not for Republicans.
Now, here's what this guy is fighting for, along with Greg Landsman -- Greg Landsman and he are fighting to bring criminals across the American southern border every single day. But you know what I think? I think Cincinnati and southwestern Ohio deserve better. I think Cincinnati and southwestern Ohio deserve somebody who's going to fight for lower taxes and to keep that border closed.
So, let's get out there, kick Greg Landsman out of Congress and let's elect Eric Conroy. [Audience chants "JD"]
Now let's also, of course, and maybe I don't want to say most importantly, but right up there, we've got to give it up for your next governor, Vivek Ramaswamy. Now Vivek has spent his entire life building things, and that's what I think Vivek should be proudest of in this campaign, and that's what the Democrats will not stop lying about.
They will not stop lying about here is a man who has built his life building life-saving medicines and also technology and nuclear energy. He's a smart guy. He's a sharp guy. But even more -- and by the way, the Democrats would like you to think that that's a bad thing; I happen to think it's a good thing to have smart people in public service.
But even more impressive than his business career is the fact that when the far-left radicals were trying to rip up this country from its very foundations, Vivek showed something that is very rare in public service, he showed courage. Vivek believes that the American dream should be within reach for every single Ohioan, whether they grew up in Price Hill or Mason or Hamilton. [Audience chants "Vivek"]
That's pretty good, though I've got to say, that makes me a little bit jealous when people chant anybody else's name but mine. [Laughter] But here's -- no, no. But here's the thing; we've got to remember that this election is about whether the governor of the state is going to fight for you, and whether he's going to improve the lives of the people of southwestern Ohio.
And here's what Vivek has not just talked about, but he's put real substance behind. He's talked about cutting property taxes in the state of Ohio. We pay too much. He's talked about helping young families; this is a young father who wants to help young American families, young Ohio families, buy a house and own a stake in the future for a change.
Vivek has got ideas for how we're going to bring good jobs back to the state of Ohio. We have got the best state and the best people and the best workers anywhere in the world; we've got to rebuild the state of Ohio and make it possible to rebuild the American dream [Audience chants "USA"]
And now of course, the biggest controversy, which I wasn't even supposed to talk about, but I cannot help myself, is that after a campaign season where I've watched -- and I've known Vivek for a long time, he's a very good friend of mine -- where I've watched the Democrats lie about his family, where I've watched the Democrats call him a murderer, where I've watched the Democrats throw every dirty trick in the political book at Vivek. [Audience boos]
And the whole time -- and the whole time, Vivek has stood tall and he has talked about what he wants to accomplish for the people of Ohio. And now the media and the Democrats in the state of Ohio are obsessed because, guess what, Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out like it is, and calls Amy Acton a liar.
And my message, ladies and gentlemen, is very simple, whatever you think about any of the TV advertisements, focus on the substance and focus on the facts. And the fact is that Amy Acton was the woman who tried to mask your children. Amy Acton was the woman who said that my three-year-old kid could not go to school without wearing a ridiculous face mask. [Audience boos]
Amy Acton is the woman who wanted to put girls and boys in the same locker room together and fought to make that happen. [Audience boos]
So, when she goes out there and pretends to be a reasonable moderate, or when she tries to make the campaign about TV commercials instead of about the people of Ohio, you remind Amy Acton that Ohio is about common sense, not far-left radicals like Amy Acton. [Audience chants "Common sense"]
OK. And the last, but certainly not the least public official that I wanted to count and shout out and remind that we've got to get out there and work our tails off for the next 13 days is your current and your next Senator, Jon Husted. [Audience chants "Husted"]
Now, this is a tough act to follow, ladies and gentlemen, because what could I possibly say about Jon Husted that Donald J. Trump has not already said? Don't worry, I'm not talking about Jon Husted's ass, I'm not talking about it. What I am going to tell you is that over the last two years, in less than one-third of a Senate term, Jon Husted has gotten more done than most United States Senators get done in 10 years in Washington, DC. In just a short 19 months, Jon Husted has already had several bills signed into law by the president of the United States.
One of them -- one of them makes it cheaper and easier to buy important medicines over the counter. Another of those pieces of legislation ended the Green New Scam regulations that were imposing thousands of dollars of new costs on appliance manufacturers, costs that, of course, eventually got passed down to all of us. And it was thanks to Jon Husted and his hard work and his dedication that we have no taxes on tips.
It is thanks to Jon Husted and his dedication that we have no taxes on overtime. It is thanks to Jon Husted and his hard work that we have no taxes on Social Security. And so, the message I have to every voter who's still making up their mind about who they're going to support in this election, to every electrician, to every nurse, to every waiter in this room, remember that while Jon Husted spent the last two years fighting for you and Washington DC, you have an opportunity to fight for him and fight for your future and reelect Jon Husted, next Senator from the great state of Ohio.
Now, let me step back for a second, because I've talked about three great public servants, Eric, Vivek and Jon. And what unites these guys with President Trump is a single trait that all of them share and that, ladies and gentlemen, is common sense, common sense. You know, it's common sense that American homes ought to go to American families, not to illegal aliens and not to Wall Street investors, which is why we banned foreign investors and Wall Street from buying up American homes.
It is common sense that a country ought to control its own border, and that violent criminals ought to be deported to their country of origin. And that is why, thanks to your vote, for 17 straight months, we have seen zero Border Patrol releases at the southern border of the United States of America, a record for our country. [Audience chants "Common sense"]
And I also think it's common sense that, if you want good jobs in the state of Ohio, you've got to protect and fight for the people who make things right here in our home state. That's why our administration is standing up to countries that cheat on trade and it's why Jon has fought every single day, not just as a United States Senator, but his entire life in public service for Ohio's manufacturers . Common sense, ladies and gentlemen, as much as it's easy for the people in this room, it doesn't happen on its own in Washington, DC. It takes people in office with the guts to fight for common sense every single day.
And I hate to say it, but unfortunately, we do not have a party on the other side that has an ounce of common sense. You know how much I wish that I could sit across the table from the reasonable Democrats that were willing to make some good, compromised legislation for the American people? But that's not the kind of Congressional leadership that we have in Washington, DC anymore.
Just ask yourself, why is it that Democrats ever talked about boys in girls sports? What was -- who was the person out there? Who was the person in the state of Ohio who was like, you know what I want Sherrod Brown to fight for, boys in girls sports. It's crazy; it's absolutely insane and we've got to start -- and we've got to start with Sherrod Brown.
Because Sherrod Brown, if anybody has had an opportunity to show common sense, it is Sherrod Brown who has been in some form of public office since 1974. What a year, 1974, Gerald Ford was the president of the United States. It was a decade before I was born. I'm sorry. That's OK. But let me put it clearly, Senator Sherrod Brown has spent more than a half a century in public office.
This is, in fact, the 20th campaign that Sherrod Brown has run in the state of Ohio, 20th. And you've got to ask, what is it that a man is going to get done in 50 years that he couldn't get done in the first 49? And the answer is not a damn thing. Now we have to remember that Sherrod was already fired by the great people of this state just a couple of short years ago.
You replaced him with my dear friend Bernie Moreno. And how much do we love Bernie Moreno? Then something happened, Chuck Schumer came to our great state twice to beg Sherrod Brown to run again, to mount his 20th campaign to try to hoodwink the people of Ohio. And I'll say it as plainly as possible -- if Sherrod Brown wins again, you do not get a vote in the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer gets another vote in the United States Senate. [Audience boos]
Now, Sherrod Brown watches advertisements. He'll tell you that he's an Independent. He'll tell you he's a maverick; we've all seen the TV commercials. But don't judge the man by his TV commercials, judge the man by his voting record. What did he actually do when he was in office? And in Joe Biden's first two years, Sherrod Brown voted with him 98 percent of the time.
Let that sink in, 98 percent of the time, for higher inflation and a wide-open border. That is insane, ladies and gentlemen. I don't even agree with my wife 98 percent of the time, but don't tell her that. I'm duty bound to agree with her 100 percent of the time. But that's who Sherrod Brown is; he is not an independent voice for the people of Ohio, he is not a maverick, he is a rubber stamp for Chuck Schumer and for the far-left agenda. [Audience boos]
You know, his whole strategy this midterm is to try to make you forget what he actually stood for, because for his whole career, Sherrod Brown was right there with the crazies trying to burn down this country and burn down this state. If you remember, he introduced legislation to declare racism a public health crisis and join the push to call women, quote, birthing people. [Audience boos]
How many moms do we have out there? Do we have any birthing people out there? Or do we have mothers? So, Sharrod, if you can't muster the courage to call women women and mothers mothers, how are you ever going to fight for the good people of the state of Ohio? [Audience chants "Common sense"]
Now, these guys say that they're going to stand for Ohio workers, but what did Sherrod do when he was actually in office? You know, I happen to think that Ohio workers like to share their community with their fellow citizens, not illegal aliens. I like to think that Ohio workers would not like to compete against low-wage foreign servants for their jobs.
I like to think that Ohio workers would like to know that the law enforcement is empowered to keep the cartel poison out of the state of Ohio. But every time he got the opportunity, Sherrod Brown voted to open the border. Every time he got the opportunity, Sherrod Brown voted for the Green New Scam. Every time he got the opportunity, Sherrod Brown voted to raise your electricity and your gas prices.
So, I happen to think that Sherrod Brown has already sent a message -- I don't give a damn about what you say in your TV commercials, Sherrod Brown; I care about what you did, and you didn't do anything for the people of Ohio when you had a chance. So, just as Sherrod Brown, ladies and gentlemen, has sent a message to the people of Ohio for 49 years what he stood for, just as he supported and sent a message about open borders, just as he supported and sent a message about raising your taxes, just as he supported and sent message after message about putting boys in sports with little girls, on November the 3rd, we have a chance to send a message.
And on November the 3rd, I'm asking everybody in the audience, everybody in this room, go and grab five of your friends and remind them that Sherrod Brown is exactly what he did for 49 years. And we're going to send a message and elect Jon Husted to the United States Senate. Now, I want to talk -- I want to just close out by talking a little bit about Vivek's opponent, because there's a lot of material here.
Now, I don't want to be too mean because when you're mean to Amy Acton, she sics the American media and, of course, the Democrat Party operatives all across the state of Ohio after you. But, you know, I think that a person who is more worried about whether somebody says something mean about them, that person could never serve in the governor's mansion of the great state of Ohio.
Now, again, I've known Vivek for a long time; I talk to him all the time during the course of this campaign. And Vivek, of course, can get, you know, like anybody who's running for office. Sometimes he'll get frustrated with what the media is saying, or sometimes he'll get frustrated with the dishonesty of the hacks in our corporate press.
But I've never once heard Vivek Ramaswamy complain about somebody being mean to him. I have never once heard Vivek say, you know what? They ran a very unfair TV advertisement against me. I have never once heard Vivek say anything except for his passion to serve the people of Ohio and that's what you want in a governor.
Look, I think about this in a very specific way, because I was a father in Cincinnati sending my kids to a Catholic school, or at least the one kid who was old enough to go to school. And I remember when our little kids -- this was not two months into COVID; this was not when people didn't really know what was going on. Everybody was kind of freaked out back then.
This is a year into this public health crisis, where it was obvious that our kids were suffering learning disabilities, that their speech wasn't developing in the right way because of what we were doing with regards to COVID. Now, I remember thinking to myself, why is no one thinking about this from the perspective of the kids?
Why is nobody showing an ounce of wisdom and fighting for kids? Why can none of our leaders actually do the cost benefit analysis? You know, there are risks everywhere, things are hard. It's never easy when you're the governor or when you're in a leadership position of this state. But why is it that nobody could say, yes, there are, of course, risks to COVID, but there are also risks to shutting down our schools and keeping our kids from learning.
Now, Amy Acton -- Amy Acton has a very thin record because she hasn't done much public service. So, why are we talking about COVID because it was six years ago? Because that's the only time that Amy Acton ever had power over your lives. And you know what she did? Did she act like an adult? No. Did she stand up for kids?
No. Did Amy Acton make the hard choices that we would expect of any public leader? No. She did the exact opposite; she bent the knee to the PhDs, she bent the knee to the bureaucracy, and Amy Acton did exactly what they told her to do. And ladies and gentlemen, because that's the only time we have ever seen Amy Acton in action.
That is what we know we are getting if we make the mistake of electing that woman to be the next governor of Ohio. [Audience boos]
So -- now, she doesn't have, again, she kind of disappeared for a little while, and she goes on TV and she'll say that she's a moderate. She is exactly right, my friends. She is afraid to debate because she's terrified about having her record interrogated by the people of Ohio. But I happen to think that the people of Ohio see through that fraudulent activity for exactly what it is. I think that -- somebody said alcohol.
You can say it, sir, I can't. But here's what I'd ask the people of Ohio to do on November the 3rd, remember who Amy Acton was the last time that she had power over your lives. And the last time that she had power over your lives, she was shutting down your businesses, she was shutting down your kids' schools.
She was listening to the far-left bureaucrats, not to the parents who are raising the next generation of the state of Ohio. You know what Vivek was doing? Vivek was building businesses, Vivek was creating jobs, and Vivek was showing courage by speaking up against the out-of-control corporate practices that were denying us our freedom of speech.
I remember this. I will never forget one of the very first people that I talked to about why is it that American social media companies are allowed to wage war on the First Amendment and shut us up? And why is nobody speaking out against it? You learn -- ladies and gentlemen, you learn about people when they're given power, and you learn about people in moments of crisis.
And when we had a moment of crisis, Amy Acton was trying to shut you up and Vivek Ramaswamy was fighting for your rights to speak and to be a citizen of your own country. Now, let me say just a couple more things here. Look, you guys are all going to vote the right way, except for our friend, of course, who hadn't washed his hair in three months.
But there are a lot of people watching who are making up their minds. And I get it; maybe you don't like everything I've just said, maybe you don't agree with Jon Husted or Vivek Ramaswamy on every issue. I'm not asking that of you. I'm not asking the people of Ohio to agree 100 percent with me or anybody else.
All I'm asking is that you think seriously about who's going to fight for you, and who's going to bend the knee to the far-left crazy people in the United States of America? What we need in Columbus is the same thing that we need in Washington, DC, it's not rubber stamps for anybody, and neither one of these guys is a rubber stamp for any agenda, except for the agenda of the people of Ohio.
What you need is people of courage, people of decency, and people of common sense. And ladies and gentlemen, I would be the first to tell you that it would be politically harmful, but good for the country, if the Democrats started to nominate some people of common sense. Wouldn't it be nice to have the party of JFK, the party of FDR, maybe even the party of Bill Clinton back in Washington, DC? But we don't have any of that.
Bill Clinton, ladies and gentlemen, according to the far-left radicals who run the Democratic Party today, Bill Clinton is a right winger. And if Bill Clinton is a right winger, then you need to be in a mental asylum. But this is what has taken over the far left in the United States of America; it's not a disagreement about regulation.
It's not a disagreement about tax policy. It's about whether this country should be ripped up from its very foundations. And what we have in Vivek and Jon Husted is two people who, yes, you are not going to agree with them every single issue, but most importantly, they know who their boss is, and their boss is the people of Ohio, not Chuck Schumer, not the bureaucracy, it's you and that's who they're going to fight for.
Now, you all know that this is not just another state to me. This is not just another election. The people of Ohio and the state of Ohio is dear to me. The way of life, the beautiful hills and valleys of southwestern Ohio. You know what always bothered me? When people would come from out of state and assume that southern Ohio was flat when I knew that it was beautiful, shaped by generations of glaciers and rivers and beautiful streams.
This is our home, ladies and gentlemen, this is my home. My papaw welded steel at the Middletown Works of AK for 40 years. My mamaw and my papaw, my mom, my stepmom who is with us here today, my dad, my entire family molded who I am on the streets and the cityscapes of this place. I love this place. I mean, we are, what, five minutes from Jungle Jims where every time -- every time I come back home Usha and I make sure to take our kids to Jungle Jims because what else are you going to do? You've got to come to Jungle Jims when you're in southwestern Ohio.
Fairfield -- of course Fairfield, but we go to both. But here's the thing -- what Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton represent is a rejection of what made this place great. They represent a rejection of the public service that made it possible for me to be able to live a good life. How is it that the grandchild of a union steelworker is sitting here right now as the vice president of the United States?
It's because we're a great country. [Audience chants "JD"]
It's because we had an economy that provided good jobs to people who were willing to work for them. It's because we had schools that taught skills and knowledge to our children, not left-wing indoctrination. It's because we had police officers who were empowered to make city streets safe for everybody, whether you were rich or poor or black or white.
That is the legacy of this region of our state. But when I think about what's at stake, it is about whether southwestern Ohio will still be able to produce the American dream for the next generation of kids. If you want to be able to build a business or you just want to work in a good job, whether southwestern Ohio is the place where you're going to be able to do it. What's at stake in this election is not any specific issue as much as the issues matter, but it's about whether the candidates we send to represent us are going to protect our way of life or destroy our way of life in order to gain more money and more power for themselves.
And ladies and gentlemen, as much as this state was amazing to me, and as much as this community made me who I am, I would not be standing here without you. The Democrats want to undo everything that made it possible for me to achieve my dreams, for your children and your grandchildren to achieve their dreams.
That's what's at stake in this election, whether Ohio is still that bastion of opportunity, of hope, and of common sense for the entire nation. So, I'd like to ask you, are we going to give in to the radical left's plans for Ohio? [Audience boos]
Or are we going to stand up to the Democrats like Sherrod and Amy Acton in two weeks? Are we going to vote for lower taxes, a closed border and safe streets in two weeks? Are we going to elect Jon Husted and Vivek in two weeks? Ladies and gentlemen, on November the 3rd, Join me in voting for those who are going to fight for you, not for the far left.
America belongs to those who love it, not those who hate it. Let's get it done, Ohio. We've got two weeks to go. Thank you.