Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted with family. (Photo by Morgan Trau, WEWS.)
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will be moving from the Buckeye State to D.C., earning the coveted appointment to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance in the U.S. Senate.
Gov. Mike DeWine, who has been interviewing candidates for months, has given the position to his second in command.
“I wanted someone who knew Ohio,” DeWine said. “I wanted someone who had a firm grasp and understanding of the complexity of Ohio.”
He continued, “Serious times demand serious people.”
Husted, who was raised in Northwest Ohio but represented the Dayton area at the Ohio Statehouse, has been in politics for more than two decades. He has served in both the Ohio Senate and House, later becoming the Speaker. He was then secretary of state for two terms. After first putting his name out for governor, he decided to join DeWine for the race as a team in 2018.
“We have worked to make Ohio great again, and I look forward to working with President Trump and JD Vance to make America great again,” Husted said.
We were the first to report that the governor and Husted visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Donald Trump and Vance at the end of 2024.
Prior to the appointment, the governor gave his list of requirements for the job.
“This has to be someone who really wants to do the job and do the work and who we think has the ability to do it,” DeWine has said, adding that the Senate appointment would also be able to stay in the seat for a long time.
Previously, the governor said that he wanted someone who could not just win the primary and general elections of 2026 but also hold onto the seat in 2028.
Possible LG appointment
We spoke with a dozen strategists about who could be appointed to lieutenant governor. The individuals on this list were mentioned at least five times.
Strategists believe the frontrunners for LG include RNC Committeewoman for Ohio Jane Timken, former state. Sen. Matt Dolan, former state Rep. Jay Edwards, Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik and state Senator Michele Reynolds.
Timken, Dolan and Edwards were all up for the Senate appointment. None responded to comment publicly on the LG question.
Mihalik and Reynolds did talk.
“I love my job!” Mihalik said. “I am not going to disclose the content of private conversations.”
Mihalik is a close ally of the governor and made it into the possible appointment list in December.
However, she seemed not to want it.
“I am focused on state government and that is where I plan to stay involved,” Mihalik said last month.
She was previously the mayor of Findlay before DeWine chose her to lead the deptartment. Under her watch, Intel, Honda, GM and Ford chose to invest in the state.
Reynolds, a Republican from the further-out suburbs of Columbus, had seemingly not been aware of her popularity for LG.
“This is the first that I have heard of any possible conversations about me replacing LG Jon Husted,” Reynolds said previously when asked. “I trust the Governor to do right by Ohio and he has my full support with whomever he decides to choose.”
This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on X and Facebook.
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