Dem
47
GOP
53
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted (R-OH) was looking to follow his term-limited boss, Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH), into the governor's mansion in Jan. 2027. However, former senator J.D. Vance's election as vice president threw sand in the gears by creating a vacancy in the Senate. Lil' DOGEy Vivek Ramaswamy was interested in being appointed to the Senate (and lobbied like hell for it), but no one else thought that was a good idea, certainly not DeWine. The problem is that the appointee will have to run in a special election in 2026 and again in a regular election in 2028. DeWine wanted a Republican who could win, especially if former senator Sherrod Brown runs in 2026. Ramaswamy would be Brown's dream opponent.
In the end, DeWine talked Husted into taking the job. It's tough work, but somebody has to do it. DeWine and Husted have a close relationship and have worked together on a daily basis for 6 years now. Also, Husted knows that the governorship is good for 8 years, max, whereas an incumbent senator has almost as much tenure as a Supreme Court justice. Husted is 57 and could easily serve in the Senate for 30 years if he gets past the special election in 2026.
Husted is a conservative, but more of an internationalist, like DeWine, rather than a Trumpist. He has criticized the GOP's drift toward isolationism. Nevertheless, Husted will probably vote with his party on most nominations and bills. An early test will be on the tough nominations, especially the grossly unqualified Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense.
With Husted in the Senate, the situation for the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election suddenly brightens for the Democrats. Against Husted, no Democrat could have won. With him out of the way, Ramaswamy is likely to go for it. Unlike Senate races, where the only thing that matters is partisanship, many voters are willing to split their tickets and vote for one party for president and the other one for governor. Governors of the party that lost the state's 2024 presidential election include Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), Laura Kelly (D-KS), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Josh Stein (D-NC), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), Phil Scott (R-VT), Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), and Tony Evers (D-WI). Ramaswamy would be an exceedingly unpopular and divisive candidate. Of course, he doesn't have the Republican nomination yet, but he could try to buy it. For the Democrats, having a competitive Senate race would have been better than having a competitive gubernatorial race, but it wasn't their call. (V)