Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine also met with Vivek Ramaswamy and several Ohio elected officials before making the decision days before Trump’s inauguration.
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine named Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill Vice-President-elect JD Vance’s U.S. Senate seat in a Jan. 17 announcement.
Vance resigned from his Senate seat earlier this month in preparation for joining President-elect Donald Trump as vice president.
DeWine, who served two terms in the U.S. Senate, was tasked by state law to select his replacement.
“I think I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to succeed in the United States Senate,” DeWine said in a Jan. 17 press conference.
“The process we went through took a while because of the gravity of this decision. I interviewed a large number of people. There were many people who I considered very qualified to serve in the United States Senate to represent the state, but I came to the conclusion that the person who is best suited to be the United States senator is a person who has been close to me for the last six years.”
DeWine is widely regarded as part of the Republican Party’s establishment wing. He has drawn criticism from Trump, and the two political figures have been at odds at times.
Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio native and resident who ran for president in the Republican primary last year, was seen as a possible replacement for Vance. Earlier this week, Trump recommended Ramaswamy for the Senate post.
After Trump won in November 2024, speculation mounted that Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan (R-District 24), Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio), former Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken, and Ohio State Treasurer Robert Sprague were also possibilities.
In November 2024, an Ohio Republican strategist with close ties to the state Legislature in Columbus told The Epoch Times that he believes DeWine’s decision “will have sign off from everybody involved, from team Trump and team Vance to DeWine and those aligned with him in the Ohio Republican party.”
