OAN Staff Sophia Flores
11:50 AM – Friday, January 17, 2025

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has selected Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted to serve as Ohio’s next United States senator. Husted will replace JD Vance, who is stepping down as he assumes the role of Vice President-elect.

On Friday, DeWine (R-Ohio) announced that Husted, 57, will take over the recently vacated Senate seat. He has served as Ohio’s lieutenant governor under DeWine since 2019. Prior to that, he has served in Ohio’s state House and state Senate and as the secretary of state in The Buckeye State.

“I have worked with him, I have seen him. I know his knowledge of Ohio. I know his heart. I know what he cares about. I know his skills,” DeWine said at a conference announcing the news. “All of that tells me he is the right person for this job.”

Husted accepted Governor DeWine’s offer and will serve in the Senate seat at least until a 2026 special election, which will fill the remaining two years of Vance’s term. He announced on Friday that he accepted the appointment “with the full intention of running for this office.”

Prior to accepting the Senatorial position, it was speculated that Husted would launch a 2026 gubernatorial campaign to succeed DeWine.

Earlier in the week, speculation grew that the position might go to Vivek Ramaswamy, a presidential candidate and the incoming co-leader of President-elect Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), as he met with DeWine last weekend.

Now that DeWine has officially selected Husted to take the seat, there is now a clear path for Ramaswamy to run to be the next governor of Ohio as DeWine cannot run for re-election due to term limits.

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