Ohio voters entered November’s General Election wondering who the state’s next U.S. Senator would be. The question remained following the election.
November 5th election results did answer whether incumbent Sherrod Brown or Bernie Moreno would be representing Ohio in the U.S. Senate, as Moreno earned 50.2% of the votes to Brown’s 46.4%. However, the result of November’s U.S. Presidential Election now has Ohio’s other U.S. Senate seat “to be determined,” as Sen. J.D. Vance is now Vice President-elect and will be vacating his office on Capitol Hill for an office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW following January’s presidential inauguration of Donald Trump.
The Trump-Vance ticket earned 50% of the nation’s popular vote to defeat the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket, which garnered 48%. Among Ohio voters, Trump-Vance defeated Harris-Walz 55%-44%.
Vance, currently in the second year of his first term in the U.S. Senate, is Ohio’s first U.S. Vice President-elect since Charles Dawes, who served under Calvin Coolidge (1925-29).
Ohio law dictates that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will select who will fill Vance’s seat in the U.S. Senate until a special election can be held in November 2026. The winner of the special election will serve out the current six-year term, which ends in 2028.
First faced with the possibility that he would have to name Vance’s successor when the senator from Middletown was named Trump’s vice-presidential running mate in mid-July, Gov. DeWine was reported in the OC September-October 2024 issue (“What About Ohio’s Other U.S. Senate Seat?”) saying he would wait until after the election. According to FoxNews.com in mid-November, Gov. DeWine will name a successor to Vance closer to when the Vice President-elect officially vacates his Senate seat.
Despite no official announcement being made until closer to the Jan. 20, 2025 inauguration, a list of candidates to fill Ohio’s other U.S. Senate seat is being unofficially assembled. Potential candidates mentioned by national and state media include U.S. Representatives Mike Carey, Warren Davidson, or David Joyce; Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted; Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost; Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague; State Senator Matt Dolan; and attorneys Mehek Cooke and Jane Timken.
According to Senate.gov, if either Cooke or Timken are chosen as Vance’s replacement, they would become the first women to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate.
