One candidate is leading a field of Republicans in the race to be named Ohio’s next senator

By the time Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, Ohio will have two new U.S. senators on Capitol Hill. Gov. Mike DeWine will name a successor to Vice President-elect JD Vance when he retires from the Senate, joining Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno, who defeated three-term Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in November.

DeWine is a former U.S. senator himself, so he said he thinks he knows what it takes to be in that office — someone focused on national issues but also on Ohio.

“It also has to be someone who would win a primary election. It has to be someone who can win a general election. And then two years later, we’re going to do it all again,” DeWine said shortly after the November election. “So this is not for the faint of heart. This is not for someone who just wants to get a seat. It has to be someone who really wants to do the job and do the job and who we believe has the ability to do it.”

The appointee will serve until a special election in 2026, then would have to run again in 2028, when the six-year term in Vance’s seat expires.

One candidate appears to be in the lead: Lt. Jon Husted. Spokespeople for DeWine and Husted confirm they traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to visit former President Trump in recent weeks, but would not comment on the reason for the trip.

Husted is the most experienced politician in the potential pool. He has been in electives since winning a seat in the Ohio House in 2000 and was speaker and secretary of state. He ran for governor briefly in 2017 before joins DeWine. That ticket won in 2018 and 2022. Husted has raised over $5 million for a run for governor in 2026, and DeWine has said he thinks Husted would be excellent in that role. On election night, Husted did not want to talk about who could take Vance’s place.

“Goodness. We’re just going to celebrate tonight. Enjoy tonight. And those things will take care of themselves over time,” Husted said.

Jane Timken is also mentioned as a possible appointee. She was voted in as chair of the Ohio Republican Party in 2017 after members deposed Matt Borgeswho had supported former Gov. John Kasich over Trump. She resigned her position to join the six others running against Vance for the 2022 GOP nomination.

“There are a lot of show horses in this race, but I am the workhorse who will lead with grit and grace. President Trump asked me to take over the Republican Party and I delivered Ohio to President Trump,” Timken said during the conference seven-way debate presented by the Ohio Debate Commission in March 2022.

Republicans hold just a five-seat advantage in the U.S. House, the smallest margin in a century. DeWine has admitted that’s a factor in his decision, suggesting he can’t choose from among Ohio’s 10 Republican congressmen, even though U.S. Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH 15) has said he would like to move to the Senate.

Two picks seen as long shots have run for the Senate before: Secretary of State Frank LaRose and now former Sen. Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls). The lost the Republican primary to Trump-endorsed Moreno last March, even though Dolan was endorsed by DeWine. Dolan also lost the 2022 GOP primary to Vance.

Treasurer Robert Sprague has also expressed interest in the job. He is a former state legislator. Like LaRose and the three other statewide officials, he is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026.

Not all Republicans want the Senate seat

Two people who have said they don’t want the job. Ohio-based tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-head the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk, published on X in November that he withdrew from the consideration of the appointment. And Attorney General Dave Yost has also said he’s not interested.

“I’m an executive,” Yost said on election night. “I’ve never been a legislator and I’m not ready to end my public service, but I can’t imagine going to Washington, DC, I wouldn’t accept that appointment.”

Yost shared a video on X on Nov. 19 and shows him walking up to the doors of the governor’s Statehouse office with the words “stepping up for Ohio, coming Q1 2025.” It could be a big year for Yost, too criminal case against former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling, who are threatening, although a trial date has not yet been set. While neither Husted nor DeWine have been charged and both are denied any knowledge of the corruption scheme to pass the House Bill 6 nuclear bailout for FirstEnergy, text messages between them and the former executives, and FirstEnergy’s donation to a dark money group that supported Husted’s 2017 run for governor. Yost was criticized last year to reach a settlement with FirstEnergy for $20 million, which many considered far too low.

Whoever is elected could end up facing the man who got to the Senate by defeating DeWine in 2006 — Sherrod Brown. Brown has not ruled out running for Vance’s seat in 2026.

“This is my last speech in the Senate, but it is not, I promise you, the last time you will hear from me,” Brown said in a emotional address to his colleagues on 19 Dec.

Vance is still in office, so he will not be sworn in again with Moreno and all the members of the Senate and Congress who ran last year and won, and DeWine has said he will wait to make the announcement until Vance retires, sometime before he is installed as vice president. president on January 20.