Jon Husted’s former campaign chair gave him thousands before quitting over misconduct case involving 15-year-old

Andrew Havas resigned this month as U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s Franklin County campaign chair after NBC News asked the senator’s campaign about a 2009 case involving a 15-year-old. Federal records show Havas was also something the resignation announcement did not mention: a donor to Husted’s Senate campaign, one whose contributions last year topped $4,000 — part of it routed through a joint fundraising committee bearing the senator’s own name.

A TiffinOhio.net review of Federal Election Commission filings shows Havas gave Husted for Senate $4,066.12 between February and August 2025. Two contributions of $1,000 each, in February and April, were earmarked directly to the campaign. The remaining $2,066.12, recorded across July and August, was routed through Team Husted, the senator’s joint fundraising committee. Ohio Secretary of State records show Havas gave another $525 in January 2023 to the DeWine-Husted transition fund. No campaign-finance violation has been alleged in connection with the contributions.

A longer money trail

Havas’s support for Husted stretches back years. Campaign-finance filings show he gave $4,000 to Husted for Ohio, the senator’s campaign committee before his appointment to the Senate, across 2023 and 2024, and added another $1,291.32 to the Senate campaign in June. Counting his earlier contributions to Mike DeWine’s gubernatorial campaign committee — the ticket on which Husted ran as lieutenant governor and served in that office from 2019 until January 2025 — and to the DeWine-Husted transition fund, Havas has given more than $22,000 to committees tied to Husted and the DeWine ticket since 2018. About $9,400 of that went to committees Husted himself controlled.

The case that ended the chair role

Havas resigned after NBC News asked Husted’s campaign about his 2009 guilty plea. According to court records reviewed by NBC News, Havas was originally charged with sexual misconduct with a minor in a case involving a 15-year-old, when he was 22. That charge was later reduced to a single misdemeanor assault count, and he pleaded guilty in 2009 and served jail time. A criminal complaint accused him of being reckless as to the minor’s age.

Husted’s campaign said it had not known about the case. “Mr. Havas did not disclose his history to the campaign,” Amy Natoce, a spokesperson for the campaign, told NBC News. “Upon learning the facts, we immediately accepted his resignation as a campaign volunteer.”

Havas had been named a Franklin County campaign chair in December, one of 112 volunteers the campaign appointed to represent Husted across Ohio’s 88 counties. He also serves as vice chair of the Franklin County Republican Party executive committee and is registered with the state as a lobbying agent. TiffinOhio.net previously reported on Havas’s resignation and on the more than $10,000 his contributions represented to Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign, which faced similar criticism from Democratic nominee Amy Acton.

Democrats renew their attack

The Ohio Democratic Party seized on the donation history. In a statement, spokesperson Tony Wen said: “Andrew Havas’ record of sexual misconduct with a minor was public, but Jon Husted had no problem keeping him as a campaign chair until people started asking questions. Even now, Jon Husted continues to proudly tout two other endorsements from allies who have faced disturbing sexual allegations involving minors. Ohioans deserve to know why Husted keeps embracing predators.”

Wen’s reference to two other allies appears to point to state Reps. Rodney Creech and Gary Click, both of whom have appeared alongside Husted’s campaign. Husted’s campaign listed Creech among its endorsers on a March graphic; in 2023, a minor relative accused Creech of climbing into bed with her, according to Bureau of Criminal Investigation records reported by the Statehouse News Bureau. No charges were filed, a prosecutor who reviewed the case called Creech’s conduct “concerning,” and Creech has denied the allegations, calling them “demonstrably false” and politically motivated. Click, Husted’s Sandusky County campaign chair, drew scrutiny over 2023 committee testimony in which he described talking to young girls about their sex lives; he has not been accused of a crime.

A tight race

Husted was appointed to the U.S. Senate in January 2025 by DeWine to fill the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. He faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown in the Nov. 3 special election, one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, which will appear on ballots statewide, including in Seneca and Sandusky counties. The Havas contributions add to a broader line of Democratic scrutiny over Husted’s campaign finances heading into the fall.