More than seven months out from Ohio’s partisan primaries, GOP candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy and incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Husted have endorsed each other, in another signal that neither of them will face a serious contest in May 2026.
The two men addressed a standing room only crowd, which included lawmakers and strategists and lobbyists, at The Boat House near downtown Columbus on Monday night.
“We know we won’t be alone, because we know that President (Donald) Trump will be here, Vice President (JD) Vance will be here, and all of you will be here working side-by-side with us to getting a victory in 2026, won’t you?” Husted said.
His endorsement of Ramaswamy came just days after Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel officially ruled out a run. The former Ohio State University football coach, who Gov. Mike DeWine made his second-in-command in February, shut the door Friday afternoon. Issues like the state’s education system and its workforce “deserve my full attention for the remainder of our term,” Tressel wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Attorney General Dave Yost exited the race months ago, after failing to secure the Ohio GOP’s endorsement in May. That went to Ramaswamy, who got the backing of Trump just hours after officially launching his campaign Feb. 23. When asked by the Statehouse News Bureau about whether wading into races will be more common in future cycles, Chairman Alex Triantifilou said the party endorsed as early as it did in a show of unity.
“We’re united around this ticket,” Triantifilou told reporters after the event. “There’s still a primary process, but we’re telling Republicans, this is a winning team for Ohio.”
The only declared Democrat in the governor’s race so far is former Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, who served and then resigned under DeWine and Husted during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As Ohioans continue to struggle with the cost of living, politicians like Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy will be punished at the ballot box,” Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Katie Seewer said in an email statement Monday.
Husted, who holds the Ohio seat vacated by Vance, is more than likely to face off with former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, next November.
“He’s not as tough as he once was,” Husted told reporters. “He lost by over 200,000 votes in the last election.”
Ramaswamy left without answering any questions from reporters.
