Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), facing a tight race in November against former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown, has secured endorsements from many of the usual suspects, including President Donald Trump and the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio.
Husted last week received the endorsement of another storied American institution: Steak ’n Shake.
The Midwestern fast-food chain praised Husted as a champion of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, writing on X that it was proud to endorse his campaign. Steak ’n Shake also criticized Brown for “supporting the extreme federal spending that fueled the inflation crisis, driving up grocery prices for every Ohio family.”
It’s not the first political endorsement that Steak ’n Shake has made this cycle.
The chain also endorsed Derek Merrin, a Republican challenging Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), and Zach Lahn, a Republican running for governor in Iowa.
The endorsements come as Steak ’n Shake has revamped its menu to align with the Make America Healthy Again movement, replacing the vegetable oil for its fries with beef tallow and switching to grass-fed beef. It even hired a “chief MAHA officer,” Michael Boes, a former adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Boes wrote in an email to The Washington Post that Steak ’n Shake “supports candidates who are committed to improving people’s health” and that the chain is open endorsing Democrats as well as Republicans.
Asked whether Steak ’n Shake was concerned about alienating potential customers who support Brown or other Democrats, Boes wrote, “We prioritize doing the right thing, even if it hurts our short-term profits.”
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