Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine remains coy on who he is considering to fill Ohio’s soon-to-be vacant U.S. Senate seat.
DeWine told reporters Thursday morning that he doesn’t yet know who will replace Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance when he becomes vice president. Vance will be inaugurated on January 20 and has not yet announced when he will resign from the Senate.
“I interviewed a lot of people, I talked to a lot of people,” DeWine said. “A lot of people want to be a senator, it’s a pretty amazing number. People have been in contact with us about this, many people have opinions about the condition. We are in the process of making a decision and will have it before J.D. Vance resigns.”
DeWine said he has spoken to President-elect Donald Trump and Vance about the Senate seat but would not release information about their conversations.
Both Ohio senators will be modern members of the U.S. Senate along with a Republican political newcomer Bernie Moreno ousts Senator Sherrod Brown during last month’s elections. Whoever appoints DeWine must run in a special election in 2026 if they want to keep their Senate seat, which he takes into account.
“Whoever I nominate has to win the primary in less than two years, then win the general election, and then come back two years later and win the primary,” DeWine said. “So it has to be someone who I think will win the primary and then win the general election.”
Some are speculating whether Brown will be considered for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat in 2026.
DeWine, who was a U.S. senator from 1995 to 2007, said he was looking for someone who could defend Ohio.
“Any senator can have a big impact in many ways, but one way is certainly to support their state,” he said. “…That is the main criteria: someone who will win Ohio, who will win us.”
Even though DeWine keeps his list of potential candidates close to the vest, they do exist several potential names circulating around the world, including state Sen. Matt Dolan, Gov. Jon Husted, U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, Ohio Republican National Committee committee member Jane Timken and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Republicans recently won a slim majority in the House of Representatives, which DeWine said he takes into account when making a decision that may not bode well for Carey.
“This is the reality we are in today after the president took several people,” DeWine said.
Two prominent Ohio Republicans who were initially considered potential Senate candidates will not get the job.
Originally, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was considered a potential Senate candidate, but Trump tapped him and billionaire Elon Musk to assist run his modern Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a nongovernmental task force to find ways to lay off federal workers and eliminate programs and intestinal federal regulations.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost even recently publicly stated that he will run for governor in 2026 posting a video on social media platform X referring to his campaign for governor.
Follow the OCJ reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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