Donald Trump called him out of the crowd. Jon Gruden walked up, took the microphone and did what he had not done in public for nearly five years: he opened his arms to a cheering room.

The venue was the gymnasium at Vandalia-Butler High School, outside Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday 3 October 2026. Trump was there to campaign for Senator Jon Husted and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, 31 days before the 3 November midterm vote. Gruden was a surprise addition to the line-up.

“I just came back for one reason. I’m from Ohio. My mom and dad are from Cleveland. I was born in Sandusky, and I went to the University of Dayton and I’m d*** proud of it, man!” Gruden told the crowd.

The link to Husted is older than any of it. The pair played together on the University of Dayton Flyers football team, with Husted as an all-American cornerback and Gruden as a backup quarterback in the mid-1980s. Husted, who was appointed to the Senate seat vacated when JD Vance became vice president, is now trying to hold it against former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in one of the tightest races of the cycle.

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From Super Bowl stage to a high school gym

Gruden won Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, beating the Oakland Raiders team he had coached the season before. In January 2018 he returned to the Raiders on a 10-year, $100m contract.

That contract ended early. On 11 October 2021 he resigned after The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal published emails he had sent to former Washington executive Bruce Allen between 2010 and 2018 containing racist, misogynistic and homophobic language. He has since sued the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, and the case was remanded to Nevada state court in October 2025.

He has stayed almost entirely off public stages since. The Vandalia rally, with the president calling his name, was his loudest re-entry.

Trump’s framing: “a winner”

Trump introduced him in the terms he reserves for favoured guests.

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“We even have one of my favorite coaches in the whole world here, Jon Gruden,” the president said.

“He’s a great coach and he’s a very good golfer too. He’s a great winner. He’s a winner.”

Gruden used his minutes on the microphone to vouch for Husted the player before Husted the senator.

“Jon Husted is a lot more than my friend. He was a great player. He intercepted 17 passes on the gridiron, he was a great player! I know why he was a great player. It was because of his work ethic and his commitment, and his day-to-day mental toughness!”

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He closed with a direct ask.

“Before you know it, this election is over. What we gotta do is do our part. Early voting starts Tuesday. Can we be there or not?”

Early voting in Ohio opened on Tuesday 6 October, with the general election on 3 November.

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