Staff photo / David Skolnick Democrat Sherrod Brown talks with supporters at a Thursday rally at Paladin Brewing in Austintown.

AUSTINTOWN — Democrat Sherrod Brown, who is seeking to return to the U.S. Senate, said Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican incumbent, refuses to speak against the war in Iran despite soaring gas prices.

At a Thursday event at Paladin Brewing, which drew about 75 people, Brown said, “It’s clear this war is hurting people financially and in other ways. There’s no end in sight. (Republicans) have no idea how to end this war. They didn’t plan anything. Husted hasn’t raised one voice against this war or any idea about how to end it.”

Brown pointed to a comment Husted made March 6 that the war in Iran is going “much better than anyone thought it would.”

Brown said: “I don’t know where he’s getting his information.”

The average price for a gallon of regular gas Thursday in the Mahoning Valley was $4.347, according to AAA. It was $3.771 a gallon a month ago and $3.123 a year ago, according to AAA.

Brown said: “It’s clear the system is rigged against most Americans, most people in the Mahoning Valley. Prices are up, corporate profits are up, corporate CEOs’ salaries and stock buy backs are up. People are working harder than ever before. My opponent said the work ethic in this country is broken. My opponent said you just got to work harder if you want to get ahead. Well, people are trying. They simply can’t get ahead.”

Drew Thompson, Husted’s campaign manager, said: “Only Sherrod Brown could sit in public office in Washington for 32 years, then wring his hands about a rigged system. It’s Sherrod Brown’s system. He created it. For decades, he voted for the problems Ohio must now overcome.”

Thompson added: “In his first year, Jon Husted is getting to work cleaning up Sherrod Brown’s mess. Husted is delivering for Ohio families by preventing a tax hike of $1,700, increasing the child tax credit to $2,200 and giving workers no tax on tips and overtime.”

Those items were in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4 by President Donald Trump.

Brown said the bill gave tax cuts “to the richest people in the country while they’re cutting health care.”

Brown said Republicans “promised that their No. 1 goal was to keep prices down and they’ve put no effort into that.”

Brown said if he was a senator, he would be speaking against the war in Iran that is causing major fuel increases and the death of 13 U.S. service members.

Brown said: “You speak out against this war. Husted, since it started, has never once said this was a bad idea. It’s clearly the reason gas prices are up. There is no end in sight because Jon Husted has said nothing about it, no pressure to end the war.”

Brown faces Ron Kincaid in Tuesday’s Democratic primary though the former three-term senator is heavily favored to win. Husted is unopposed in the Republican primary.

Brown lost a reelection bid in 2024 to Republican Bernie Moreno.

Husted was appointed in January 2025 to a vacant Senate seat by Gov. Mike DeWine. At the time of his appointment, Husted served as DeWine’s lieutenant governor.