U.S. Sen. Jon Husted said in a recent interview that people living in poverty are “not very experienced at navigating the real world,” remarks that have drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle — including from a prominent Ohio Republican.

Husted made the comments to conservative podcaster Nic Dunn. Speaking about poverty and financial literacy, Husted described a conversation with a woman who, he said, did not know “how money works at a grocery store” because she had spent her entire adult life using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

“And so you literally have to teach people how to budget, how to do all these things,” Husted said.

The remarks prompted a sharp response from Jim Renacci, the 2018 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate who lost to then-Sen. Sherrod Brown. Writing on Facebook the following day, Renacci said Husted “needs to never do [another] interview.”

“I was poor. My parents had very little. We survived. I did well. He is waving a broad brush with stupid comments,” Renacci wrote. “He should not have been appointed to the Senate. He spent his entire life trying to be Governor. He is now in the wrong world and his interviews prove it.”

Renacci added: “These interviews can only help Sherrod Brown.”

Husted was appointed to Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat in January 2025 after previously serving as the state’s lieutenant governor.

The poverty remarks are not the first time Husted has faced criticism over statements on economic hardship. He has separately suggested that Ohioans struggling with rising costs should simply “earn more” money, claimed that Americans’ “work ethic is broken,” and argued that an affordability crisis exists only in “blue states” — comments that came as Ohio electric bills doubled for many customers, grocery prices continued rising nationally, and Ohio health insurance costs climbed sharply.

Ohio Democratic Party Senior Communications Advisor Tony Wen said Husted “couldn’t be more wrong and out of touch.”

“Ohioans are working harder than ever to make ends meet, but they’re being screwed by Husted and politicians in Washington voting to make everything more expensive,” Wen said. “It’s clear that Jon Husted has no clue what people in Ohio are actually going through.”

Husted’s office did not respond to a request for comment.