Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to name state Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the US Senate seat recently vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, two sources with knowledge of the decision told CNN.
Husted emerged as the favorite over the last few weeks after visiting Donald Trump alongside DeWine at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in December. It was not clear at the time, though, whether Husted had his eye on the Senate or was potentially seeking an endorsement for his expected 2026 gubernatorial campaign.
By abandoning his hopes of succeeding DeWine, who is term-limited, and going to the Senate, Husted has cleared a path for Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy to run for governor. The president-elect’s eleventh-hour push for Ramaswamy to consider the Senate seat never gained traction. Ramaswamy met with DeWine this past weekend but never publicly signaled his interest. He is currently lined up to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency alongside billionaire Elon Musk.
In the Senate, DeWine’s decision upholds the status quo, with Republicans enjoying a narrow majority after a successful 2024 campaign. Though similar temperamentally, Husted comes from a different tradition of conservatism to Vance, who occasionally overlapped with progressives on populist-infused economic matters. Husted is a fiscal hawk who often touts passing “the most conservative state budget in 40 years” during his time as state House speaker and, in his official biography, says he ran the secretary of state’s office without public funds during his last two years in the post.
Still, it was Husted who delivered Vance’s nominating speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last summer.
“The man who accepts this nomination,” Husted said of Vance, “accepts with it the awesome responsibility to give wise counsel to the president, to represent America abroad, to preside over the Senate and to be ready to lead our nation at a moment’s notice.”
Husted will now serve in the Senate until 2026, when he will face a special election to fill out the final two years of Vance’s term. In 2028, Husted can run for a full six-year term.
More recently, Husted – in what many expected to be the run-up to another bid for governor – championed legislation to restrict social media use for children younger than 16 years old in Ohio.
The Social Media Parental Notification Act puts the onus on social media outfits to determine whether potential users are 15 or younger. If they are, parents must send written consent for their children to join a network and receive confirmation of receipt from the company.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram; Snapchat; TikTok; and YouTube all fall under the auspices of the law, which was passed as a provision of the state budget in 2023.
“We’ve been conducting an experiment on our children that we know is failing, and we need to act,” Husted said at a news conference in Columbus ahead of its passage.
Husted came to his most recent position in 2019. He had initially been a candidate for governor, part of a crowded field hoping to follow two-term GOP Gov. John Kasich. After dropping out, he joined DeWine’s ticket as his deputy, and the pair were elected, Husted as lieutenant governor, in 2018.
His political career began nearly two decades earlier, when he was elected to the state House. In 2010, Husted won a seat in the state Senate’s 6th District, where he remained until launching his first statewide campaign, a successful bid to become Ohio secretary of state. He was reelected in 2014.
Husted played college football for the Division III University of Dayton Flyers. The team won the national championship in 1989, his senior year. He is married to Tina Husted. They have three children.
According to his official biography, Husted was adopted after first living in a foster home. He graduated from Montpelier High School, in northwest Ohio, before heading to Dayton.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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