A week ago, Vice President-elect JD Vance resigned his position as Ohio's senior senator. That set the clock ticking for Gov. Mike DeWine to name his replacement. Today, we learned that he has chosen Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the vacant seat.
I'm proud to announce that I have selected @LtGovHusted to serve in the U.S. Senate, replacing Vice President-elect @JDVance. pic.twitter.com/W5918DDaCz
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) January 17, 2025
It is my honor to accept the appointment to serve in the U.S. Senate.
— Jon Husted (@JonHusted) January 17, 2025
We have worked to Make Ohio Great Again & I look forward to working with @RealDonaldTrump & @JDVance to Make America Great Again! pic.twitter.com/fwIgst3gEm
I wrote in December that Husted was "low-key building a gubernatorial campaign with the support of DeWine. He most likely doesn't want to go to the Senate, but never say never. Until he states publicly that he doesn't want the job, he can't be completely ruled out."
Never say never, indeed.
Husted, 57, has held elected office since 2001, first in the Ohio House (with four years as the speaker) and then in the Ohio Senate. He was elected secretary of state in 2010 and held that position until 2019 when he became the Buckeye State's 66th lieutenant governor.
DeWine had set out some qualifications ahead of his decision:
- A good candidate who could both win primaries and keep the seat in Republican hands come 2026 (midterms tend to be challenging for the party in power) and again in 2028
- He's looking for someone who wants to serve beyond 2026 rather than a "placeholder" because with seniority in the Senate comes more power
- Potential to be productive in the Senate, serving the state's constituents rather than building a celebrity profile.
His press secretary, Dan Tierney, added one additional qualification in an interview with the Dayton Daily News last month: “The only additional thing is the governor served 12 years in U.S. Senate, so he’s got some strong opinions on what he likes to see in a senator. And what you probably know from covering the governor, is when he was in the Senate he really tried to do the work of the Senate in terms of working through the committee process, focusing on legislation, working across the aisle.”
Husted fits the bill with his long history in the legislature and state offices. He knows how to work the levers of power in legislative bodies, which no doubt appealed to DeWine.
Frank LaRose, who had been vying for the open Senate seat, praised Husted on X:
Jon’s a champion for the values and opportunities that make our state great. No one deserves more credit for Ohio’s economic development success than he does, and I know he’ll take that same work ethic to Capitol Hill. I wish him the best as he joins Senator @BernieMoreno to… https://t.co/WFgPEACKhH
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) January 17, 2025
From Husted's bio:
Throughout his time in elected office, Jon has demonstrated repeatedly his ability to get things done that have a positive impact on Ohio and its residents.
As Secretary of State, Jon made it his mission to make Ohio the best state in the Midwest to do business by improving customer services and reducing wait times for entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, the state moved beyond week-long processing of paper forms and made it possible for businesses to interact with the state over the internet with the click of a button. He has also reduced the cost for starting a business in Ohio by 21 percent — making Ohio the least costly state in the Midwest to start and maintain a new business.
In 2017, Secretary Husted announced the efficiencies in his office had not only allowed him to cut the fees the state charged on Ohio entrepreneurs, but also eliminate the need for taxpayer funding for the government office entirely for the remainder of his term in office – a move that has saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
This record of cutting cost and saving money to Ohio’s taxpayers is nothing new. As House Speaker, Jon led the passage of the most conservative state budget in 40 years, which included at the time, the largest income tax cut in Ohio’s history.
In an apples-to-apples comparison, Husted will be an improvement over moderate Sen. Rob Portman, whose resignation paved the way for Vance's Senate bid, but many Ohioans are still angry about the DeWine/Husted regime's draconian COVID lockdown policies. Husted was famously heckled at a 2020 Trump rally where he tried pushing masks.
Lt. Governor Jon Husted (R-OH) tries to promote pro-Trump masks at today's rally ... and is met with a huge chorus of boos. pic.twitter.com/1rR1bAwF89
— The Recount (@therecount) September 21, 2020
In an interesting twist, Ohio health bureaucrat Amy Acton, a Democrat who drove DeWine's COVID policies. has announced she will run for governor. In a Husted-Acton matchup, debating COVID policies would have essentially been off the table because Husted went along with all of it. Lots of palace intrigue here.
Prior to today's announcement, there had been rumors swirling that Vivek Ramaswamy would be chosen, but that was never going to happen. DeWine is, at heart, an institutionalist, and Ramaswamy is a disrupter, which would go against everything in DeWine's long political career. Plus, there are rumors that Ramaswamy will run for governor. That may have been just the writing on the wall that pushed Husted to abandon his gubernatorial hopes. Anyone reading the room would know that Ohio is Trump country, and faced with the choice of a MAGA disrupter or a 20-year politician, voters would opt for the former. The Senate seat may very well have been Husted's consolation prize.
Over the last two years, Husted has built up a significant war chest in his bid to succeed DeWine. He won't be able to use any of that for a future Senate campaign, so it may end up in the coffers of the Ohio Republican Party. I would not be surprised if that played heavily into DeWine's decision.
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