One of the leading candidates to fill Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s seat in the U.S. Senate recently travelled to President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate as a decision looms.

Under Ohio law, Republican Governor Mike DeWine will be tasked with selecting a replacement for Vance until 2026. At that point, a special election will be held to determine who will serve out the remainder of Vance’s term, which ends in 2028. The winner of the special election will then have to run again in 2028 in order to secure a full, six-year term.

DeWine is widely expected to be making his decision within the coming weeks, as the new Congress is set to be sworn in on January 3.

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Earlier this week, DeWine traveled to Trump’s Palm Beach residence with Republican Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, who is believed to be a top candidate to replace Vance, according to a report from News 5 Cleveland.

Dan Tierney, a spokesman for the governor’s office, told Fox News that DeWine is looking for a “workhorse” who is “qualified and ready to earn the trust of Ohio voters for another term.”

Husted during his time as Ohio Secretary of State

In addition to Husted, DeWine is reportedly considering Mehek Cooke, a Republican attorney who served as a political and legal surrogate for Trump in 2024 in the overwhelmingly pro-Trump state. Cooke has garnered a reputation as a formidable GOP fundraiser in Ohio and has defended the former president against politically motivated prosecutions in numerous network segments.

Businessman and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was previously viewed as a top contender for the role and had expressed openness to it, though he was recently appointed to a brand new presidential task force aimed at cleaning up government waste, a task he will work to complete alongside X owner Elon Musk. The appointment seemingly rules Ramaswamy out of consideration for the time being, though he has expressed interest in running for governor at some point in the future.

Additional candidates include State Senator Matt Dolan, a staunch ally of DeWine who previously launched unsuccessful primary bids against Vance and Senator-elect Bernie Moreno. Other possibilities include former Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who also ran in the primary against Moreno, along with the state’s Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, Fox News reported.

“I’m always ready to answer the call of duty, but I’m also focused right now on doing the job Ohioans hired me to do,” LaRose told the outlet when asked for comment. “We delivered another secure, accurate and accessible election for Ohio voters, and that work continues. We need to certify the results on an expedited timeline to accommodate the electoral college meeting next month.”

“We’re still working with our boards of elections to process absentee ballots and help voters cure provisional ballots. We’ve got a potential recount in one congressional district race. We’re also not letting up the pressure on the Biden administration to give us the federal citizenship records we need to ensure the accuracy of Ohio’s voter rolls. There’s a lot to be done. I know Governor DeWine has an important decision to make, and I’m confident he’ll do what’s in the best interest of Ohio.”

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