A group of residents and community members turned out in Toledo on Thursday to publicly call out U.S. Sen. Jon Husted over his role in the House Bill 6 corruption scandal, gathering with handmade signs as FirstEnergy moves to raise electric rates again.
Standing alongside local officials, demonstrators held signs reading “Jon the Con,” “First Energy’s Golden Boy” and “Ohioans can’t afford Jon Husted’s corruption,” some pairing photos of Husted with the rising cost of their electric bills. Several wore T-shirts reading “Unpaid Protester.” Community members and local leaders gathered to oppose FirstEnergy’s proposed rate increase and to link it to the fallout from the HB 6 scandal, WTOL reported.
What brought residents out was the latest in a string of rising electric costs. FirstEnergy’s proposed three-year distribution plan would add about $5.30 a month each year to a typical Toledo Edison residential bill — an average increase of roughly 2.8% annually — according to figures the company provided to WTOL. The plan affects only the distribution portion of a bill and would take effect only if the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approves it.
The officials who joined the residents echoed their message. “At a time when Ohioans are worried about affording a tank of gas or a loaf of bread, here’s just another cost that the hardworking families of Toledo and Ohio are burdened with,” Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said, per WTOL. “So we might ask ourselves why. Why is this happening?” State Rep. Erika White, a Democrat who represents Ohio House District 41 in Lucas County, called for transparency: “We pay some of the highest utility costs across the country. We need accountability first. Where are the funds going?”
FirstEnergy says the plan is about strengthening the grid, not past misconduct, and rejected any connection to the HB 6 scandal. “We’re a different company than we were back then, new leadership and new plans to improve,” spokesperson Brooke Conlan told WTOL. Conlan said the plan supports about $800 million a year in infrastructure upgrades and about $83 million a year in tree trimming and vegetation management, “all aimed at reducing outages and improving restoration times.”
The demonstrators’ anger traces back to HB 6, the 2019 law that delivered a ratepayer-funded bailout to nuclear plants owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary and sits at the center of what prosecutors have called a roughly $60 million corruption scheme. Evidence in the state criminal case against former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling — and reporting by The Associated Press drawn from Husted’s official calendars — has documented meetings and phone calls between Husted and central figures in the scheme, as TiffinOhio.net has reported. Separately, the average Ohio residential electric bill has risen about $663 a year since the law took effect, based on PUCO data, though not all of that increase is attributable to HB 6.
Husted has never been charged with or accused of any crime in connection with the scandal, and he has denied playing a meaningful role. “My role was very clear. I wanted the nuclear power plants to remain operational,” he said in a January 2026 interview with NBC4 Columbus. Husted, a Republican, was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 and faces former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the Nov. 3 special election.
The state case against Jones and Dowling ended in a mistrial on April 1, and a retrial is scheduled to begin Sept. 28 in Akron. For residents who turned out Thursday, there is also a more immediate avenue: the PUCO will take public comment as it reviews the rate proposal. WTOL reported it contacted Husted’s office for comment and was awaiting a response.
