Ohio’s Jon Husted will succeed JD Vance in the US Senate

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will succeed The newly elected Vice President JD Vance in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday.

DeWine’s decision ends months of jockeying among top Ohio Republicans for Vance’s position, which he had held for less than two years. Vance resigned his Senate seat on January 10. Choose Husted, which had lined up to run for governor in 2026, potentially averting a divisive and expensive GOP primary for the governor’s race.

Husted, 57, a former speaker of the Ohio House and two-term Ohio secretary of state, will serve until Dec. 15, 2026. A special election for the final two years of Vance’s six-year term will be held in November 2026.

Standing next to Husted, DeWine called him a trusted partner in important decisions and noted that his election to the Senate would have to be firm enough to run across the country over the next several years to keep the seat.

“I’ve worked with him, I’ve seen him, I know his knowledge of Ohio,” DeWine said. “I know his heart. I know what he cares about. I know his skills. And all of that tells me he’s the right person for this job.”

Vance’s election as vice president in November opened up one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats for the third time in as many years, tapping DeWine from a long list of people who had sought the seat and lost in 2022 and 2024.

This list included former Ohio Republican Chairwoman Jane Timken; Secretary of State Frank LaRose; and State Senator Matt Dolan. Two-term Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and Republican attorney and strategist Mehek Cooke, a frequent guest on Fox News Channel, were also in the mix, as were members of the state’s congressional delegation.

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur from Cincinnati, skewed the Senate field in recent days when he visited DeWine to express his interest in the job.

By choosing Husted, DeWine, meanwhile, could help stave off a Republican faceoff for governor in 2026, with Husted and Attorney General Dave Yost already on track to run. But the field is set to remain competitive. Ramaswamy, Sprague and political newcomer Heather Hill, who saw two foster children shot by police in separate episodes, are also considered to be in the running.

But Husted was considered the early front-runner for governor given his fundraising and efforts to put together a campaign organization. Yost, meanwhile, had said he would decline the Senate appointment if DeWine offered it to him.

It is possible that the special election for the remainder of Vance’s unexpired term in November 2026 provides a comeback opportunity for former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was unseated in November by Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno. During his final Senate speech on Dec. 17, Brown said it wouldn’t be the last time Ohioans would hear from him.

It was also considered a possibility that Brown would run for governor, but he appears to have fallen behind former health director Amy Acton in that contest.

Other possible Senate candidates to take on Husted in two years are former US Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic Senate candidate who lost to Vance in 2022; and Allison Russo, who heads the Ohio House Democratic caucus.

DeWine made it clear in advance that he wanted the Republican he chose for the Senate to be well positioned to defeat the Democratic nominee in 2026 and then run for a full term in 2028. He called the ordeal “not for weak”. – the heart.”

Husted has that ability, having run twice for Ohio secretary of state — overseeing elections and business development — and twice for lieutenant governor. In fact, his strength as a statewide candidate was a key factor in DeWine putting him on her ticket in 2018, merging Husted’s own gubernatorial campaign with her own.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Vance resigned from his Senate seat on January 10th, not January 17th.