Mike DeWine and Jon Husted Owe It to Ohioans to Replace J.D. Vance With a Conservative With a Similar Mindset

There is a solid group of very good candidates so that DeWine-Husted don’t have to resort to a moderate who won’t have Trump’s and Vance’s back in the U.S. Senate.

Let me start this piece by congratulating Senator J.D. Vance on being picked by Donald Trump to be his vice presidential running mate this year. Vance possesses the brains, agility, and policy instincts to serve as a strong ally to Trump in the upcoming general election. Few in America can match Vance’s biography that speaks so powerfully to Main Street Americans and those left behind by the destructive forces of corporate America, the Left, and Establishment Republicans. Vance’s rise from a fairly dysfunctional childhood in Middletown, Ohio, to the hallowed halls of Congress by age 38 is testament to his raw talent. He will utterly demolish Kamala Harris in debates, as he won’t be a demure Victorian Age Republican like Mike Pence was.  

Not to count our chickens before they hatch, but I do think it is vital to layout a bright line now should Trump and Vance win the November election. That victory would require Vance to vacate his U.S. Senate seat, which under Ohio law would be filled by Mike DeWine. Given that Jon Husted has made it clear he is running for Ohio Governor in 2026 and DeWine has a vested interest in seeing him elected as part of his own legacy, I don’t believe DeWine will make any decision on Vance’s seat without enormous input from Husted. Thus, I will refer to this decisions as a DeWine-Husted decision.

First, in no way should DeWine-Husted replace Vance with State Senator Matt Dolan. Dolan has twice run for the U.S. Senate in a Republican Primary and twice Ohioans have told him “No thanks!” To end around voters by inserting Dolan into Vance’s seat would be a gross perversion of DeWine-Husted’s appointment power. Similarly, the appointment shouldn’t be wasted on Mike Gibbons or Jim Renacci who also have been rejected multiple times by Ohioans. As much as I like her, voters also rejected Jane Timken when she ran. The same goes for Frank LaRose.

Next, the replacement should be someone who stands a strong chance of retaining the seat in a reelection campaign. Senator Sherrod Brown is one of the aberrations of the U.S. Senate, as he is a hardcore left-wing progressive in a deep red state. Hopefully, Bernie Moreno will send Brown packing in November. The last thing Ohio needs is to lose Vance’s seat when up for reelection because the incumbent is weak.

Critically, the seat should NOT go to anyone from the state legislature. Not one Member in the Ohio House or Ohio Senate has demonstrated the ability, bona fides, and gravitas to fight as effectively as Vance did in the U.S. Senate. Imagine Vance in either state chamber. He would have dominated the legislature and stood heads-and-shoulders above every other Member. Ohio needs a fighter, not a career politician looking for an easy promotion.

Vance’s seat most certainly should not be used by DeWine-Husted to "buy off” one of the men looking to primary Husted for Ohio Governor in 2026. Specifically, both Attorney General Dave Yost and Treasurer Robert Sprague have told Republican donors and others that they may run for governor against Husted in 2026. After Husted cowered to DeWine and joined his ticket in 2018, Republican big wigs convinced Renacci to switch from running against DeWine to running against Brown after Josh Mandel suddenly withdrew from the U.S. Senate race. Thus, DeWine-Husted are familiar with such “smokey back room” schemes. As I see it, any candidate who flips from running for a state executive position to a federal legislative position is only really interested in remaining in elected office and not truly focused on getting things done for citizens. Political office is merely a means to an end—his own end.

Finally, there is a solid group of very good candidates so that DeWine-Husted don’t have to resort to a moderate who won’t have Trump’s and Vance’s back in the U.S. Senate. Here is a starter list:

• Vivek Ramaswamy (though honestly, since I’m not running, he’d serve Ohio better running for Ohio governor in 2026 to save us from the moderate Husted, and I think he would be highly frustrated in a Trump Cabinet in which Trump consumes all of the oxygen in the room and dictates what Ramaswamy can and cannot do) 

• Cong. Warren Davidson

• Cong. Brad Wenstrup

• Cong. Jim Jordan

• Angela Phillips (CEO of Phillips Tube Group—see this Wall Street Journal article on her and listen to this radio interview from last August)

Despite several people asking me about it, I intentionally excluded my name from this list for two reasons: (1) I have no interest in spending time in Washington in the legislative branch. Too little gets done for my taste. I am doer fundamentally uninterested in holding useless hearings, issuing stern sounding press releases, and tweeting clickbait for fundraising purposes. (2) More importantly, I believe my value remains in Ohio in whatever capacity that takes aimed at pushing for the policy changes at the state level to move Ohio out of the dead state walking category and back onto the best in America list. 

For those interested, listen to my interview on Irish National Radio talking about the assassination attempt on Trump. My segment comes in after they check in with their correspondent at the Republican National Convention. Not to toot my own horn, but I’d politely submit my responses to the interviewer’s effort to “both sidism” Trump on dangerous rhetoric and violence are a masterclass in how to respond to biased media. What do you think?