(PJ Media) Tongues are wagging in Ohio about who might replace JD Vance as U.S. senator should he become vice president in January 2025, which becomes increasingly likely with every passing day.
The Ohio Revised Code gives the governor, in this case Mike “Wear the Mask, Peasant” DeWine, power to appoint a replacement until a special election is held in November 2026. The winner would serve out Vance’s term, which ends in 2028.
I told my colleague Stephen Kruiser that Ohio is “very cat-fighty.” There are political rivalries going back decades, loyalty tests, and enough backstabbing to rival the mob (without the murders… don’t hold me to that). They don’t call it the Ohio Mafia for nothing. Ohio Capitol Journal:
Now, that’s coming from a left-leaning news site, but the facts don’t lie, and many conservatives are fed up with the corrupt DeWine regime. Nevertheless, DeWine will likely choose the next U.S. senator for Ohio.
Here are the top contenders:
- State Sen. Matt Dolan, who has been a close ally of DeWine for years. Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland
IndiansGuardians, ran for Senate in the 2024 primary but came in second to Bernie Moreno. DeWine endorsed Dolan, who ran largely on a NeverTrump platform. He still had more than $4 million in his campaign war chest as of December 2023. (Prediction: very likely)- If Bernie Moreno, a pro-Trump political neophyte, loses the 2024 Senate race to incumbent Sherrod Brown—a Democrat unicorn in an overwhelmingly Red state whom no Republican has been able to beat—DeWine could hand him the seat as a consolation prize. (Prediction: not likely, too Trumpy for DeWine.)
- Current Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who came in third in the Senate primary. He’s pro-Trump and has worked his way up through the ranks—first as a state senator and then as SoS (before that, he served as an Army Green Beret and pulled several tours of duty. (Prediction: quite possible.)
- Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted is also in the mix. DeWine and Husted were never great allies or even friends, but Husted helped consolidate the GOP vote during the 2019 gubernatorial race. He’s also served in the Ohio House and Senate and as secretary of state. He’s a true party man. He may be angling to run for governor next, but his ties to DeWine and the bribery scandal may take him out of contention. (Prediction: not likely unless Husted has something on DeWine.)
- Former Congressman Jim Renacci. He got the short end of the stick when then-President Trump asked Renacci, who was at the time running for Senate, to run for governor instead in 2022, hoping to take out DeWine. It was already late in the election season when he made the switch, and then a guy no one had ever heard of, “Cowboy Joe” Blystone, who turned out to be a kook, became an internet sensation and ended up taking the votes that could have put Renacci over the top. Nevertheless, Renacci has never wavered in his support for Trump. Prior to the governor’s race, Renacci ran for Senate against Brown and got the closest anyone has ever gotten to ousting the radical left-wing Democrat. (Bonus: He was on the House Ways and Means Committee, so he knows where the bodies are buried.) He’d be a good choice, but DeWine is probably still sore about being forced to run against him as an incumbent. (Prediction: it’s possible the two could bury the hatchet for the good of the state, based on Renacci’s past success, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The vengeance runs deep.)
