Tongues are wagging in Ohio about who might replace JD Vance as U.S. senator should he become vice president in January 2025, which becomes increasingly likely with every passing day.
The Ohio Revised Code gives the governor, in this case Mike "Wear the Mask, Peasant" DeWine, power to appoint a replacement until a special election is held in November 2026. The winner would serve out Vance's term, which ends in 2028.
I told my colleague Stephen Kruiser that Ohio is "very cat-fighty." There are political rivalries going back decades, loyalty tests, and enough backstabbing to rival the mob (without the murders... don't hold me to that). They don't call it the Ohio Mafia for nothing. Ohio Capitol Journal:
In the wretched hustle of public corruption, modern Ohio Republican state politicians make the notorious “Ohio Gang” of the Teapot Dome scandal look like rank amateurs.
Consider the latest: Three-and-a-half years after news of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history broke, citizens are seeing fresh indictments with damning new details about the breadth and depth of the depravity, including how the entire operation reached into the orbit and actions of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
The latest indictments concern a $1.3 billion dollar bailout that Akron-based FirstEnergy has already admitted to the federal government that it paid more than $60 million in bribes to purchase. Former Republican Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former state GOP Chairman Matt Borges are serving federal prison sentences for their roles. Two other lobbyists cooperated and are awaiting sentencing, while a third died by suicide wearing a “DeWine for governor” t-shirt. [Emphasis added]
Now, that's coming from a left-leaning news site, but the facts don't lie, and many conservatives are fed up with the corrupt DeWine regime. Nevertheless, DeWine will likely choose the next U.S. senator for Ohio.
Here are the top contenders:
Dark horses:
Another factor that overlays the Senate appointment is a successor for DeWine, who will be term-limited out in 2027. Ohio has been a move-up-the-ladder-and-wait-your-turn state for as long as I can remember, so both Yost and LaRose would be considered to have served their time in state government. That said, nothing has been the same since Trump came down the golden escalator in 2016, so the next race for governor could be a complete free-for-all with candidates we've never heard of jumping into the race.
All of this speculation is, of course, contingent on Trump/Vance winning in November. No decision on a replacement will be announced—though it may have already been made—until that is settled. In the meantime, there will be lots of visits to the governor's mansion by candidates wishing to plead their cases between now and then.