Trump criticizes former Ohio senator Sherrod Brown over $750,000 earmark for group that hosted drag story event

In October 2026, speaking at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, U.S. President Donald Trump sharply criticized former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, asserting that during his time in Congress, Brown requested a $750,000 federal earmark to fund drag queen story hours for children. The remarks were delivered during a Republican campaign swing ahead of the November midterm elections.

According to conservative news outlet Breitbart, Trump warned supporters against returning Democrats to office: “[He] requested an earmark of $750,000 to fund drag queens reading stories to children. Now think of that. He wants $750,000 so that drag queens in school can read to our children.” In his address, Trump also criticized Brown’s legislative votes on energy policy, immigration, and public assistance, urging Ohio voters to back Republican candidates, including Senator Jon Husted.

The attack referenced a congressional earmark request submitted by Brown’s office during the fiscal year 2024 budget process. The $750,000 Community Project Funding request, titled the “Harmony Center Project,” was presented to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. The proposed allocation was designated for Harmony Project Productions, Inc., a Columbus-based nonprofit, to renovate a performance venue, community hall, and shared-office facility to support organizational growth and provide space for local community partners.

Conservative attention was drawn to the appropriation because Harmony Project had previously shared photos and video on social media from a January event titled “drag queen song and story time,” held in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Organizers of the event, hosted by Franklin County, described it as a celebration of diversity and inclusion in local arts. Republican political groups, including Citizens for Sanity, along with Fox News, subsequently aired political ads and commentary claiming Brown sought taxpayer money to subsidize drag performances for minors.

Harmony Project Productions, Inc. is a Columbus-based nonprofit founded in 2009. The organization works to bridge social and economic divides through community choral performance, arts education, and volunteer civic service across central Ohio.

The dispute over federal appropriations and children’s drag events highlights the ongoing cultural divisions in American electoral politics: Uránia previously reported on the Human Rights Campaign investing substantial funds in Sherrod Brown’s Ohio comeback bid while bypassing moderate Democrats, examined divisions among Midwestern Democrats over cultural campaign strategies, and detailed the internal controversy and resignations within the Ohio Democratic Party’s Pride Caucus.