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Home Front: Politix

Corrupt RINO nominates Pajama Boy for Senate

2025-01-18

Another item checked off before the handover, nonetheless. On the surface, however imperfect, he looks like someone President Trump can work with. and he’s another vote on the Republican side when things get close.

[Politico] Gov. Mike DeWine announced his own Lt. Gov. Jon Husted as the next senator from Ohio, passing over entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

"Jon Husted will be right at home in the United States Senate, and he’ll be at home on day one," DeWine said Friday in a press conference at the statehouse in Columbus.

Husted, a Republican more in DeWine’s institutionalist mold, had long planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. His ascent to the Senate will likely scramble the field in that race.

Ramaswamy learned mid-morning Friday he would not be the pick, according to a person familiar with the discussion and granted anonymity to describe it.

DeWine’s deliberations were upended when Ramaswamy, the billionaire Columbus-area entrepreneur and co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, made a late appeal for the vacancy. Despite insisting he was interested in running for governor in 2026, the DOGE co-chair was "lobbying like hell" for the Senate post, according to a source familiar with DeWine’s thinking.

"It was bizarre," said this source.

A source close both to Trump world and Ramaswamy said that the Ohio billionaire enjoys the backing of the Trump family.

"They’re not supporters of DeWine," this person, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the Trump family’s behalf. "They didn’t want to see Husted in the governor race. Trump supports this."

The governor, a former two-term senator himself, is an outspoken internationalist. And in recent years, he has openly expressed unease about his party’s drift toward the sort of isolationism Ramaswamy often voiced in his short-lived presidential bid. DeWine said he called Trump at 10 a.m. today to disclose his pick, but did not disclose their conversations.

"He’s a serious guy for very serious times," said the source of Husted. "And nobody knows the state better."

Husted won't win in 26.

PJ Media raises some interesting points:

I wrote in December that Husted was "low-key building a gubernatorial campaign with the support of DeWine. He most likely doesn't want to go to the Senate, but never say never. Until he states publicly that he doesn't want the job, he can't be completely ruled out."

Never say never, indeed.

Husted, 57, has held elected office since 2001, first in the Ohio House (with four years as the speaker) and then in the Ohio Senate. He was elected secretary of state in 2010 and held that position until 2019 when he became the Buckeye State's 66th lieutenant governor.

DeWine had set out some qualifications ahead of his decision:

A good candidate who could both win primaries and keep the seat in Republican hands come 2026 (midterms tend to be challenging for the party in power) and again in 2028

He's looking for someone who wants to serve beyond 2026 rather than a "placeholder" because with seniority in the Senate comes more power

Potential to be productive in the Senate, serving the state's constituents rather than building a celebrity profile.

His press secretary, Dan Tierney, added one additional qualification in an interview with the Dayton Daily News last month: “The only additional thing is the governor served 12 years in U.S. Senate, so he’s got some strong opinions on what he likes to see in a senator. And what you probably know from covering the governor, is when he was in the Senate he really tried to do the work of the Senate in terms of working through the committee process, focusing on legislation, working across the aisle.”

Husted fits the bill with his long history in the legislature and state offices. He knows how to work the levers of power in legislative bodies, which no doubt appealed to DeWine.

Frank LaRose, who had been vying for the open Senate seat, praised Husted on X:

In an apples-to-apples comparison, Husted will be an improvement over moderate Sen. Rob Portman, whose resignation paved the way for Vance's Senate bid, but many Ohioans are still angry about the DeWine/Husted regime's draconian COVID lockdown policies. Husted was famously heckled at a 2020 Trump rally where he tried pushing masks.

Prior to today's announcement, there had been rumors swirling that Vivek Ramaswamy would be chosen, but that was never going to happen. DeWine is, at heart, an institutionalist, and Ramaswamy is a disrupter, which would go against everything in DeWine's long political career. Plus, there are rumors that Ramaswamy will run for governor. That may have been just the writing on the wall that pushed Husted to abandon his gubernatorial hopes. Anyone reading the room would know that Ohio is Trump country, and faced with the choice of a MAGA disrupter or a 20-year politician, voters would opt for the former. The Senate seat may very well have been Husted's consolation prize.

Over the last two years, Husted has built up a significant war chest in his bid to succeed DeWine. He won't be able to use any of that for a future Senate campaign, so it may end up in the coffers of the Ohio Republican Party. I would not be surprised if that played heavily into DeWine's decision.

Townhall likes him, too:

Two years later, he became Ohio’s Secretary of State and oversaw elections and business registrations. He employed new technology to reduce the average time it takes to register a new business to only a few hours. He also slashed fees for business registration as well.

During his tenure as Ohio’s secretary of state, he ran the office without the use of taxpayer funds and generated a $10 million surplus before he left office.

In his position as lieutenant governor, Husted heads the Office of Workforce Transformation. This department helps to match workers to businesses. He has also been instrumental in decreasing business regulations.

He has focused his entire career, both in the private sector and public service, on creating a strong economy and thriving communities. As Lt. Governor, his work has driven some of the largest economic development deals the state has ever seen, including attracting new investment in every region of the state from companies like Ford, Abbott Labs, Medpace, General Motors, Honda - - and the largest economic development deal in Ohio's history with Intel’s chip manufacturing facility in Licking County.

As Director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, he’s worked to ensure our residents have the skills they need so all those new jobs are filled by Ohioans, in addition to attracting new talent to our state. He pioneered new strategies for job training through business (not government)-driven programs like TechCred and Industry Sector Partnerships in order to give new opportunity to every Ohioan.

As senator he will be one of a hundred, able to work at the national level on the things that drive him, and removed from the governor’s race. Governor DeWine knows how to play the game — the Senate Republicans need more people who bring that seasoning. Even if, as Walking Unvaxxed predicts, Mr. Husted does not get reelected in 2026, he can spend the next two years showing his inexperienced colleagues how it’s done.

Posted by:The Walking Unvaxed

#1 Dewine implemented the same Covid policy for retirement homes that was implemented in NY, Michigan and the Dem states with high death rates. I refused to sign his petition for re-election in my county GOP office. The folks weren’t pleased. Husted has an opportunity to tick us off as well. He will be primaried.

Posted by: Super Hose 2025-01-18 19:40

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