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By Ed O’Keefe, , Aaron Navarro, Kathryn Watson
/ CBS News
Washington — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday named Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the Senate seat that Vice President-elect JD Vance is vacating.
“There were many people who I considered very qualified to serve in the United States Senate to represent the state of Ohio,” DeWine said in a news conference. “But I came to the conclusion, as you see, 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, a person who almost daily I work with. And that is Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.”
DeWine said he took his responsibility to pick a replacement seriously, explaining that he wanted someone who understood Ohio, understood the relationship between the state government and the federal government, and someone who would be a “workhorse” in the U.S. Senate and in running for reelection.
“Serious times demand serious people,” DeWine said, noting the global challenges the U.S. faces.
The announcement ends months of speculation and jockeying for the seat Vance held for just two years. DeWine, who is a former U.S. senator, has been tight-lipped about who might replace Vance in the Senate.
DeWine and other Republican governors met with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month. The governor said he called Trump around 10 a.m. Friday to inform him of his decision.
“He was very, very gracious, and seemed to be very happy, and said some nice things about Jon Husted,” DeWine said.
Husted said he also spoke with Trump, Vance and Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno ahead of the announcement Friday. Moreno, who was sworn in earlier this month, is now the senior senator from Ohio.
“They’re all very excited, and I really look forward to working with them because there’s a lot of work to do,” Husted said.
Husted, 57, has been Ohio’s lieutenant governor since 2019. He also served as Ohio’s secretary of state and had been considering running for governor to replace a term-limited DeWine in 2026.
Husted began his life in a foster home before he was adopted by his parents, Jim and Judy Husted. He went on to play football for the University of Dayton, and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees there.
In his speech accepting his appointment, Husted appeared to choke up a couple of times — once, when he mentioned the work he and his wife have done to help foster kids and encourage adoptions, and again when he expressed his gratitude to DeWine.
Husted and his wife have three children.
“This is an opportunity, if you care about your country, if you care about your state, that you can’t pass up,” he said.
Wealthy Trump ally and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was also floated as a possibility for the job. Trump tapped him to co-lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a new advisory body meant to tackle federal spending and waste. Ramaswamy has been largely quiet after he took to social media in December to criticize U.S. culture as venerating “mediocrity” and seemed to suggest Americans are lazy, prompting backlash.
“More movies like ‘Whiplash,’ fewer reruns of ‘Friends,'” Ramaswamy, 39, complained on X in December. “More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less ‘chillin.’ More extracurriculars, less ‘hanging out at the mall.'”
That didn’t go over well, with many other Trump allies and supporters criticizing Ramaswamy for his comments.
In Ohio, governors name senators to fill vacancies in the U.S. Senate until the next regular election. In this case, the special election will be November 2026, and the winner will remain in office until Vance’s term was to expire. He would have been up for reelection in 2028.
For seats in the House, the governor calls a special election. Ohio hasn’t had to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy since 1974.
Ed O’Keefe is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent. He previously worked for The Washington Post covering presidential campaigns, Congress and federal agencies. His primary focus is on President Biden, Vice President Harris and political issues across the country.
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