Ohio lieutenant governor Jon Husted will replace Vice President-elect J.D. Vance in the Senate, Gov. Mike DeWine (R.) announced Friday.
Husted, who had plans to launch a gubernatorial bid to succeed term-limited DeWine, will instead serve as Ohio’s junior senator until a special election in November 2026. Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, whom President-elect Donald Trump encouraged to pursue the Senate seat, is now shifting his focus to the gubernatorial run in November 2026, the Washington Post reported.
DeWine said he wanted his Senate appointee to be "someone who knew Ohio" and a proven "workhorse," praising Husted’s track record on economic development and "making government more efficient."
"Serious times demand serious people," DeWine said of his deputy, adding he "interviewed a large number of people" and that the decision "took a while."
Trump in November tapped Ramaswamy to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a commission focused on cutting government spending and increasing efficiency, alongside business magnate Elon Musk. Trump set a July 4, 2026, deadline for DOGE’s work to be completed—months before the Ohio gubernatorial election.
"Vivek’s base plan remains [the] same: to get accomplishments at DOGE and then announce a run for governor shortly," an Ohio operative familiar with Ramaswamy’s deliberations told the Post.
Ramaswamy is a Cincinnati, Ohio, native and has not held public office. In 2024, the tech entrepreneur ran for the Republican presidential nomination but later dropped out and endorsed Trump.