Ohio’s GOP Gov. Mike DeWine was in an interesting spot with this year’s race for his successor, as he had connections to both Democratic Gov.-elect Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. Thursday he made his first comments about the election.
DeWine opened the Impact Ohio post-election conference in Columbus, and among the questions he took was one asking him about the effect of a controversial ad from Ramaswamy, who DeWine had endorsed. DeWine had called on Ramaswamy to take down his widely-reviled ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, calling it “deeply troubling”.
"I don't think I'm going to answer that question," DeWine said, but then added, "There was a mighty wind blowing. And we can argue who ran a good campaign and who didn't and all the different things. But I'm telling you, when the wind is blowing that hard, many times it doesn't matter."
"I think people can interpret elections any way they want," DeWine told reporters after the event. “This is a great wave that went across this country, big wind, whatever you want to call it. The issues that people are concerned about are very legitimate issues—cost of of gasoline, the cost of groceries."
Acton was DeWine’s first state health director, and he had said her orders during COVID were his decisions. He said Acton and her husband have already visited the governor’s residence, and that he wants to be helpful and that it’s in everyone’s interest that her administration is successful.
DeWine also said he hopes lawmakers will take up his proposal for a primary seat belt law during lame duck. He's called for that before, but Republican leadership hasn't moved it forward.
But DeWine said if there are moves by lawmakers to pull back on the governor’s powers, he’d have a problem with that.
“I don't think any governor is going to approve anything, whether you're Democrat or Republican, that would dramatically change the powers of the governor. I just don't think that's appropriate," DeWine said. "But look, I have no idea that they want to do that. I've not heard that from them at all.”
The conservative Buckeye Institute has said lawmakers need to ensure that unelected bureaucrats don’t impose costly government regulations on Ohio businesses and residents by moving some authority away from the governor's office and to the state legislature. The think tank said this isn't a new idea. But the progressive Policy Matters Ohio said this would "hamstring" a new governor, and the timing is suspicious.
