This year, with Ohio electing a new governor, it may actually matter who the major party candidates have chosen to be their running mates.
Before 1978, the governor and the lieutenant governor were elected separately. That resulted in some odd parings, such as in 1974 when Republican James A. Rhodes was elected governor and Democrat Dick Celeste was elected lieutenant governor.
Those two despised each other.
I was a young reporter for The Post at Ohio University; it was my first Ohio gubernatorial election. I got this quote from Celeste when I asked him how he would get along with Rhodes:
“It might be OK, if I learn to chew Mail Pouch and chalk his pool cues.”
The relationship went downhill from there.
Four years later the law changed and the two offices were elected as a team.
Since 1978, candidates for Ohio governor must have two things before they become official candidates:
- the signatures of 1,000 qualified electors, which is much harder to do than it would appear;
- and a running mate for the office of lieutenant governor.
That’s why the two major party candidates for governor — Amy Acton for the Democrats, Vivek Ramaswamy for the Republicans — were in somewhat of a hurry this week to name their running mates, with the Feb. 6 filing deadline for the May primary quickly approaching.
For Ramaswamy, the choice was Ohio Senate President Rob McColley of Napoleon, a close ally of Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, who wields enormous power in Ohio government and politics. So much so, that it appears the governor, Mike DeWine, takes his marching orders from Huffman.
For Acton, the choice is David Pepper, the former Cincinnati Council member and Hamilton County commissioner who has run for statewide office twice — Ohio treasurer in 2010 and Ohio attorney general in 2014 — and lost. But his column and videos on Substack are well read. One of his favorite targets is Ramaswamy, whom he roasts regularly.
Acton and Ramaswamy are vastly different on the issues, but they have one thing in common: Neither one has served a single day in elected office, much less an office in Ohio government.
Ramaswamy’s only other experience as a candidate was not a happy one — he ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination but dropped out in January after a dismal showing in the Iowa caucuses, which were won easily by Donald Trump. The day after the caucuses, Ramaswamy ran to New Hampshire to endorse Trump at a rally.
The billionaire Cincinnati native then tried to convince Mike DeWine to appoint him to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president. DeWine passed him over in favor of his own lieutenant governor, Jon Husted. DeWine didn’t endorse Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial campaign until Wednesday of this week.
Acton was director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID epidemic, appearing daily on televised updates with DeWine, her boss. She quit that job, saying she was being pressured to sign off on policies she did not believe in. Now, she is running to replace the term-limited DeWine as Ohio governor.
What the running mate choices suggest
David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, described the choice of McColley well.
“Rob McColley is something like the Mike Pence pick of 2016,” Niven said. “Given Ramaswamy has never worked a day in the Statehouse, McColley brings his state government resume to the ticket.”
Niven is also right about this:
“Though totally unknown across Ohio, McColley is a loyal member of Speaker Huffman's team,” Niven said. “The pick suggests the possibility that, one way or the other, after the election Matt Huffman will continue to run Ohio.”
DeWine has done nothing of substance in his second and final term as governor that Huffman hasn’t signed off on. It would likely be the same for Ramaswamy with McColley as lieutenant governor.
Acton’s pick of Pepper surprised some people because they look at and see a Democrat who was soundly defeated in his two runs for statewide office.
But that is a rather myopic view of Pepper’s political skills and the support he has from his time as Ohio Democratic Party chair.
All you have to do is read Pepper’s writings on his Substack page and you will see that he has some “attack dog” genetics in him. And, lately, his target has more often than not been Ramaswamy.
And, as Niven says, “Pepper will work hard, knows every party activist in Ohio, and fundamentally believes in his running mate.”
Acton is campaigning on a positive message, saying that she will use her life experience to help make Ohioans lives better.
She can play the good cop to Pepper’s bad cop when necessary. And it may well be necessary.
And this time, Pepper will be running with Acton in a state that Donald Trump won by 11.2% in the 2024 election.
Today, though, Trump's popularity with Ohio voters has disappeared, according to a recent Bowling Green State University poll.
Trump, over the course of little more than a year, has gone from winning Ohio by 11.2% to a -10 favorability rating.
That's an amazing drop.
Those facts might given Acton and Pepper reason for hope in a state that went for Donald Trump three times.
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