Advertisement
Vivek Ramaswamy, who was also seen as a possible replacement for the vice president-elect, is widely expected to run for governor of Ohio instead.
Katie Glueck and Shane Goldmacher
Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio on Friday named Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, elevating a veteran Republican politician and ally who came up in politics during the pre-Trump era.
“This is a serious, serious time in our history,” said Mr. DeWine, flanked by a beaming Mr. Husted at a news conference. “Serious times demand serious people.”
In naming Mr. Husted, Mr. DeWine passed over Vivek Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate and pharmaceutical entrepreneur who has been leading a government-slashing initiative alongside Elon Musk and who had emerged as another possible choice.
Mr. Ramaswamy, who was selected by President-elect Donald J. Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency with Mr. Musk, said in November that he was not interested in being considered for the Senate appointment. But Mr. DeWine met with Mr. Ramaswamy last weekend, the governor confirmed, also noting that he had considered a number of people for the Senate job.
The choice of Mr. Vance’s successor has important implications across Republican politics including for the Trump White House, the United States Senate and the Ohio governorship. Mr. Vance resigned his seat on Jan. 10, creating a vacancy for Mr. DeWine to fill.
Mr. Trump had gotten involved in the choice, meeting with Mr. DeWine and Mr. Husted late last year at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and resort, according to Ohio news reports. Mr. DeWine said he called Mr. Trump Friday morning and said he “seemed to be very happy, and said some very nice things about Jon Husted.”
But in recent weeks, Mr. Trump had suggested to Mr. Ramaswamy that he might be a good fit for the Senate seat, if offered to him, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
Mr. Ramaswamy ran for president in the 2024 primary but almost never criticized Mr. Trump; he was quick to endorse him and emerged as a prominent surrogate.
During that race, Mr. Ramaswamy’s views on foreign policy and national security — which at times veered into conspiracy theories — drew sharp criticism from some of his Republican rivals.
On Friday, Mr. DeWine, a former congressman, senator and a vanishingly rare traditional pre-Trump Republican, noted the significant role U.S. senators play in foreign affairs and national security.
Now, Mr. Ramaswamy is widely expected to run for governor of Ohio in 2026, a post that Mr. Husted had been expected to seek.
In fact, after the election, Mr. DeWine, who cannot seek a third term under Ohio law, suggested he saw Mr. Husted following in his footsteps. “I’ve always said Jon Husted, based upon my six years working with him, he will be a great governor,” Mr. DeWine said at the time.
Mr. Husted will serve in the Senate through 2026, when a special election would be held to fill the final two years of Mr. Vance’s term.
Asked if he had abandoned his hopes to be governor, Mr. Husted replied, “I accepted this appointment with the full intention of running for this office.”
Mr. Husted, 57, who was born in the Detroit area but raised in rural, northwestern Ohio, has spent years in state government, holding positions including secretary of state, state senator and speaker of the State House of Representatives. He has often praised Mr. Trump, even as the DeWine administration has clashed at times with the president-elect.
But Mr. Husted quickly and repeatedly made overtures to the incoming administration at the news conference and noted that he had nominated Mr. Vance at the Republican National Convention.
“I really look forward to working with President Trump and Vice President Vance and the Republican majority, who have an America First agenda to fight inflation, stop illegal immigration and advance conservative values,” he said. “I will do all I can to help him and JD Vance be successful.”
He also refrained from taking positions on policy issues like support for Ukraine, saying he would “get to what I stand for on all of those other issues when I’m actually a U.S. senator.”
The race for that seat next year, along with the governor’s contest, could be highly competitive.
“I seriously doubt that it will avoid a contentious race for governor,” Mr. DeWine said. “Just stay tuned. You’re going to see how many people, you know, say that they’re running in both parties.”
Former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, was defeated in his re-election bid last year but outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris’s showing in the state. He could look at either office next cycle. Former Representative Tim Ryan, a Democrat whom Mr. Vance defeated in the 2022 Senate contest, could also consider a run next year.
Asked his thinking about the Senate seat or the governor’s office during an interview last week, Mr. Brown said he had made no decisions about his next steps but was “not ruling out anything.”
“I’m not just walking away,” he said, “but I don’t know what’s next.”
Jonathan Swan contributed reporting.
Katie Glueck covers American politics with a focus on the Democratic Party. More about Katie Glueck
Shane Goldmacher is a national political correspondent, covering the 2024 campaign and the major developments, trends and forces shaping American politics. He can be reached at shane.goldmacher@nytimes.com. More about Shane Goldmacher
Battling for State Legislatures: In Minnesota, Michigan and other states, fights for partisan control of statehouses have magnified the degree to which political polarization has become ingrained across the country.
G.O.P. Gains in Mail Voting: Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s attacks on the practice, Republicans made almost universal gains in mail voting during the 2024 election, eroding a key Democratic advantage.
San Francisco’s New Mayor: Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, has taken the helm of the liberal mecca. But making the city shine again, not resisting Trump, is his top ambition.
Losing the Working Class: Democrats’ estrangement from working-class voters has become clear with Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024. But the economic seeds of Trump’s rise were sown long ago.
Grading the Polls: Despite a pretty accurate year, the pre-election polls once again underestimated support for Trump. Does that make it a successful polling cycle, or not?
Advertisement
