Reporter Morgan Trau and Attorney General Dave Yost. (Photo: Morgan Trau, WEWS.)
Most Ohio Republican Party leaders support businessman Vivek Ramaswamy as the next governor, but Attorney General Dave Yost has said it’s a bad choice.
– You had quite a good year, didn’t you? I told Yost as we sat down in his office in Rhodes Tower, right next to the Ohio Statehouse.
“It’s been a busy year,” he replied.
Yost had his future planned: run for governor, finish his term as top cop, and then run the state.
“Did you ever think the race would be like this?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “Life and the future are unpredictable.”
Yost has long been expected to run against former Gov. Jon Husted after Gov. Mike DeWine’s term ends.
– That didn’t work out, did it? Yost said.
Instead, DeWine nominated Husted to the U.S. Senate after J.D. Vance was elected vice president.
Yost has been committed to the party for decades, serving at both the state and local levels. But in May, the Ohio Republican Party endorsed Ramaswamy, a political newcomer. Within days AG suspended his campaign.
In an individual interview, he talked about the loss.
“Do you think the Republican Party made the wrong decision?” I asked Yost.
“Yes,” he replied.
Before the approval meeting, he talked to the members in detail, but they did not agree with him.
“How do I get out of this?” I asked.
“I’m still alive,” he said.
Republicans told us they wanted someone fresh and modern; Additionally, Ramaswamy gained the coveted endorsement of President Donald Trump.
In February, Yost told us that Ramaswamy did not have enough experience to lead Ohio.
“I have a proven track record,” Yost told us almost a year ago. “He has some books and some speeches.”
Currently, he and DeWine are among the few party leaders who have not endorsed Ramaswamy.
DeWine wanted voters to choose the Republican candidate, not the party. Or at least he wanted the GOP to wait a few more months rather than start the confirmation process very early. Yost was gone DeWine’s choiceBut. First he preferred Husted, then he wanted his modern lieutenant governor, Jim Tressel, to run.
“Is it bad for Ohio that it doesn’t really have an elementary school?” I asked the governor about this on Friday during a one-on-one interview.
“That’s what it is. I’ve been in politics a long time and I’ve been in a lot of races, and most of the time, many times, I’ve been in a primary. I’ve usually done that. It’s kind of the norm, at least it seems that way,” DeWine replied. “The deadline for filing has not passed yet, maybe someone will come out and run, but it looks like we almost know who will be the Republican candidate and who will be the Democratic candidate. It’s extraordinary.”
The Democratic frontrunner is pandemic health director Amy Acton, who has worked closely with DeWine. Since former congressman Tim Ryan dropped out of the race, she likely won’t have a primary.
Ramaswamy had earlier told us that having a primary opponent could mean division.
“As the Republican Party, we are more united than ever,” Ramaswamy said in an interview earlier this year.
While Ramaswamy was neither DeWine’s or Yost’s choice, both say they will ultimately support whoever is the party’s nominee.
We reached out to Ramaswamy’s team for comment but received no response.
“Do you think the Republican Party will regret this decision?” I asked Yost.
“Well, I hope not…I believe that Amy Acton’s statist approach to governing, not to mention her lack of experience, will be harmful to Ohio and the people of Ohio,” he replied.
What about Yost? He went back to the drawing board.
“I’m talking to other people who may or may not be people I can work with in the future, and we’ll just wait and see what happens,” the AG said. “I have a whole year.”
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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