Jon Husted is joined at Mike DeWine's hip, but will he win governorship over Dave Yost?

This November’s statewide election – its marquee contests, the presidency, a U.S. Senate seat, and possibly an anti-gerrymandering ballot issue – are vitally important for Ohio politicians, whether at the Statehouse or the U.S. Capitol.

That’s especially so if the proposed Citizens Not Politicians amendment, to end gerrymandering of Ohio’s General Assembly and congressional districts, makes the statewide November ballot, and voters pass it.

(That assumes Statehouse Republicans, who benefit from how districts are now drawn by GOP insiders, don’t cook up a way to stall or kill the Citizens Not Politicians initiative.)

Still, this November’s election is arguably a prelude to what, in purely Ohio terms, is an Ohio main event – the 2026 battle for statewide elected executive office at the Statehouse. That’s because, while others may disagree, what Ohio governors (and, say, Ohio attorneys general) do in Columbus can affect everyday Ohioans almost as much as what federal pols do in Washington.

(If that weren’t so, explain the avalanche of fat-cat donations to statewide political campaigns.)

Understandably, the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump will draw the most airtime between now and November, followed by the U.S. Senate contest between incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, of Cleveland, and his GOP challenger, Westlake entrepreneur Bernie Moreno, whom Trump ardently supports.

As to 2026 contenders for statewide executive office, Ohio Republicans, as usual, have a big talent pool of statewide prospects.

That’s because the GOP holds every one of Ohio’s executive offices, which have been political launching pads in the state. In contrast, while Democrats do hold Brown’s Senate seat, and three Ohio Supreme Court seats, they don’t now occupy any statewide elected executive offices.

And there is a very tempting opening looming at the Statehouse in 2026. Lame-duck Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who will complete two consecutive terms as governor in January 2027, can’t seek a third consecutive stint in 2026 because of state term-limits.

The race to replace DeWine

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted appears to be DeWine’s heir-apparent as 2026’s prospective GOP candidate for governor. Husted has been joined at the hip to DeWine, and Husted seems to draw more statewide publicity than any lieutenant governor since, say, Lakewood Democrat Richard F. Celeste (1975 to 1979), Ohio’s governor from 1983 to 1991.

Crediting Husted with his strong political advantages assumes, however, that he won’t be spattered in voters’ eyes by the House Bill 6 scandal, the proposed state bailout of two nuclear power plants then owned by the Akron-based electric company, FirstEnergy Corp., to which Husted has had ties, and Husted’s support of DeWine’s appointment of the late Samuel Randazzo, later indicted in the HB 6 affair, to chair the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

(In fairness, the state Senate unanimously confirmed Randazzo’s appointment – and HB 6 couldn’t have become law if some Democrats in Ohio’s House and Senate hadn’t voted to pass it.)

The nuclear subsidies were repealed, but a remaining part of HB 6 has cost Ohio consumers almost $250 million, and counting, to cover losses of two coal-fueled power plants, one in Indiana, owned in part by three Ohio utilities, American Electric Power, AES (Dayton Power & Light) and Duke.

More: Roots of HB 6 corruption scandals run deep in Ohio. Justice department must investigate.

Still, even allowing for Husted’s prominence, experience-heavy resume (Ohio House speaker, secretary of state) photogenic looks and DeWine’s support, it’s hard to believe Attorney General Dave Yost, once Ohio’s auditor, whose name is in the news almost as much as DeWine’s, wouldn’t at least be tempted to run for 2026’s GOP nomination for governor.

Because of term-limits, Yost can’t run again for AG, and he doesn’t seem retirement-bound or likely to be content with a less-prominent office. And of all the statewide executive officers, Yost seems to have the surest touch for publicity.

But the gazes of all today’s GOP’s statewide executive officers call to mind “the Ohio Look” described by James Thurber, the Columbus-born humorist and cartoonist, once a Dispatch Statehouse reporter: “[When an Ohio politician’s face displays] the dreamy, faraway expression of a man richly meditating on cheering audiences, landslides, and high office.” That will make for a lively 2026 in Ohio.

Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mike DeWine will soon be on way out. Who will be Ohio's next governor?