Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio on Friday named Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, elevating a veteran Republican politician and ally who came up in politics during the pre-Trump era.
“This is a serious, serious time in our history,” said Mr. DeWine, flanked by a beaming Mr. Husted at a news conference. “Serious times demand serious people.”
In naming Mr. Husted, Mr. DeWine passed over Vivek Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate and pharmaceutical entrepreneur who has been leading a government-slashing initiative alongside Elon Musk and who had emerged as another possible choice in recent days.
Mr. Ramaswamy, who was named by President-elect Donald J. Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency with Mr. Musk, said in November that he was not interested in being considered for the Senate appointment. But Mr. DeWine met with Mr. Ramaswamy last weekend, the governor confirmed.
The choice of Mr. Vance’s successor has important implications across Republican politics including for the Trump White House, the United States Senate and the Ohio governorship. Mr. Vance resigned his seat on Jan. 10, creating a vacancy for Mr. DeWine to fill.
Mr. Trump had gotten involved in the choice, meeting with Mr. DeWine and Mr. Husted late last year at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and resort, according to Ohio news reports. In recent weeks, Mr. Trump had suggested to Mr. Ramaswamy that he might be a good fit for the Senate seat, if offered to him, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
Mr. Ramaswamy ran for president in the 2024 primary but almost never criticized Mr. Trump; he was quick to endorse him and emerged as a prominent surrogate. Mr. Ramaswamy is widely expected to run for governor of Ohio in 2026, a post that Mr. Husted had been expected to seek.
In fact, after the election, Mr. DeWine, who cannot seek a third term under Ohio law, suggested he saw Mr. Husted following in his footsteps. “I’ve always said Jon Husted, based upon my six years working with him, he will be a great governor,” Mr. DeWine said at the time.
Now Mr. Husted will serve in the Senate through 2026, when a special election would be held to fill the final two years of Mr. Vance’s term. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Husted would seek a full Senate term or consider running for governor.
Mr. Husted, 57, has spent years in government, holding positions in Ohio including secretary of state, state senator and speaker of the State House of Representatives. He has often praised Mr. Trump, even as the DeWine administration has clashed at times with the president-elect.
Former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, was defeated in his re-election bid last year but outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris’s showing in the state. He could look at either office next cycle. Former Representative Tim Ryan, a Democrat whom Mr. Vance defeated in the 2022 Senate contest, could also consider a run next year.
Asked his thinking about the Senate seat or the governor’s office during an interview last week, Mr. Brown said he had made no decisions about his next steps but was “not ruling out anything.”
“I’m not just walking away,” he said, “but I don’t know what’s next.”
Jonathan Swan contributed reporting.
