COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The choice of JD Vance as vice president has caused a flurry of competition among the state’s ruling Republicans for the position, opening up one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats for the third time in as many years.
The vacancy is to be filled by GOP Governor Mike DeWine, who will help the pragmatic center-right politician shape his party’s future in the state, maybe for years to come. When the seat is up for reelection in less than two years, a bad decision may also help Democrats regain a spot in Ohio’s Senate delegation. His decision will be made in the wake of Republicans’ overwhelming victories in November under Donald Trump’s leadership.
In the days following the election, the governor told reporters, “Look, being a United States senator is a big deal.” We must do it correctly since it is a significant matter for the state.
There are several options available to DeWine, especially considering the number of GOP candidates that lost the 2022 and 2024 Senate primary. Former Ohio Republican Chair Jane Timken, two-term Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and state senator Matt Dolan—whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team—are among the candidates being considered who have lost crowded Republican primaries in the past. Republican strategist and lawyer Mehek Cooke, a regular commentator on Fox News, and two-term Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague are also in the running.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a Vance insider and Cincinnati pharmaceutical entrepreneur, was another potential appointee and 2024 presidential candidate who withdrew from the race after taking a job in the Trump administration.
FILE – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine talks to reporters during the Republican National Convention July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
Paul Sancya/Associated Press photo
Although it seems doubtful, Vance’s exit also presents DeWine with a chance to clear a snag at the top of Ohio Republicans’ political hierarchy, where Attorney General Dave Yost and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted are getting ready to run for governor in 2026. Yost has stated that he would turn down the position if it were given, while Husted is well into organizing his campaign. The 77-year-old former U.S. senator, whose tenure expires in 2026, has also stated that he would not name himself.
Meanwhile, the thin House majority their party won in November is dampening aspirations for the seat among Republican members of Ohio’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Reps. Warren Davidson, Mike Carey, David Joyce, and Jim Jordan. As Trump gets ready to push early legislative initiatives through Congress, DeWine is probably taking into account the fact that Ohio’s election procedures require that house vacancies be filled within months.
According to state law, the person appointed will take over on December 15, 2026, which is the date of Vance’s unannounced resignation. November 2026 would see a special election for the final two years of his six-year tenure.
Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, who was ousted earlier this month by Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, may have a chance to make a comeback in that special election. I’m going to stay in this arena, Brown told Politico last week, though he wasn’t precise. I’m not leaving. The Democratic Senate contender who lost to Vance in 2022, former U.S. Representative Tim Ryan, may run again. Another candidate for the 2026 Senate is Allison Russo, the Democratic leader of the Ohio House.
According to DeWine, he wants the Republican he selects to be in a strong position to defeat the Democrats in 2026. Since every seat is up for grabs in Ohio’s statewide elections that year, their abilities as a statewide candidate and fundraiser are especially crucial. Returning Republicans to the governor, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, and secretary of state positions may be facilitated by having a strong incumbent senator at the top of that ticket.
Another aspect can be stamina. LaRose ran this year, Dolan ran twice, and Timken’s most recent run for the Senate was in 2022. The winner of a 2026 election would only have a two-year reprieve before facing Ohio voters once more in 2028.
According to DeWine, this is not for the weak of heart.
Like Timken, Dolan is a wealthy, making him unique among the Republicans vying for the Vance post in that he has never received Trump’s support.
Dolan ran in the Republican moderate lane in 2022 and 2024, refusing to support Trump and refuting his unfounded allegations that voter fraud cost him the 2020 victory. In the Senate primary last year, he received DeWine’s endorsement for those positions, which may be encouraging for the term-limited Ohio Senate Finance chairman.
The president-elect supported Moreno this year and Vance in 2022, helping both win. While Vance beat a field of seven, Morenow faced off against Dolan and LaRose in a three-way Republican primary. Both candidates then defeated Democratic opponents in Ohio, which is now consistently red.
Dolan resisted an unsuccessful attempt to override then-Governor John Kasich’s veto of Ohio’s snow-blocked abortion ban after embryonic heart activity is detected in the state legislature. LaRose and Sprague, who were state senators and representatives at the time, respectively, backed the measure and the attempt to overturn it.
As a Senate candidate, Timken, a Trump supporter who has never held public office, characterized herself as a strong pro-life advocate who favored repealing Roe v. Wade.
In the 2022 Senate primary, former U.S. Senator Rob Portman supported Timken, describing the Harvard-educated lawyer and wife of former TimkenSteel CEO Tim Timken as a hard-working, intelligent conservative.
Some think Cooke or DeWine might have an advantage in the competition because of their propensity to elevate women. More than half of his Cabinet is female, and he has a female chief of staff and communications director.
Trump hand-picked Vance to lead the Ohio Republican Party following his first election in 2016, and he has subsequently backed her election as Ohio’s RNC National Committeewoman, even though he endorsed her over Timken for the Senate in 2022.
Trump supported both LaRose and Sprague in their campaigns for statewide office, and both have endorsed him again, even though he also passed over LaRose for a Senate endorsement this year.
Both have won statewide elections twice, but LaRose would be the first Green Beret to hold a congressional seat and his prominence as Ohio’s lead elections officer keeps him in the news more than Sprague. However, Sprague may be less likely than LaRose to attract a primary opponent due to the lack of scandal that has characterized his term at the state treasury.
DeWine states that he wants his appointee to be willing to put in a lot of effort and accomplish goals, as well as to be focused on both state and national issues. Additionally, he implied that the individual’s political views could not be overly radical.
Additionally, he stated that the candidate must be able to win a primary, a general election, and then repeat the process two years later.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
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