J.D. Vance played a vital role in winning the White House for Donald Trump as the President-elect’s running mate.
But as Vance soon takes his promotion to the Vice Presidency, he will have to vacate his U.S. Senate seat.
And now Vance is nodding his head as this candidate is rising in the race to replace him.
J.D. Vance has to give up one seat to take another
The election night victory of the Trump-Vance ticket is being celebrated as a good thing for America’s future by more than half the country.
A new Emerson College survey shows Donald Trump will enter the White House for his second term with a 54% favorability net rating.
But the positive election results for the GOP isn’t without its own downsides for Republicans.
With J.D. Vance ascending to the White House as Donald Trump’s second-in-command, he will have to exit the U.S. Senate early.
With MAGA supporter Bernie Moreno upending incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in the 2024 election, the Buckeye State is about to have two brand-new Republican U.S. Senators in the 119th Congress.
Vance’s seat will be filled, temporarily, by an appointment from RINO Governor Mike DeWine.
Whomever DeWine selects will have to defend the seat in a special election in 2026.
But step one is filling the seat for the next two years.
The Ohio field gets crowded quickly
And there are plenty of prominent Ohio politicians stepping up for the spot.
Former Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was heavily rumored to be interested in the position, but his appointment by the President-elect to co-direct the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk likely takes him out of contention.
But there’s no shortage of potential candidates for Ohio’s liberal establishment governor to pick from.
Representative Mike Carey (R-OH), Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH), Ohio State Senate President Matt Huffman, Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court Sharon Kennedy, former State treasurer and multi-time Senate candidate Josh Mandel, and current Treasurer Robert Sprague, are all rumored to be interested in being the next U.S. Senator from the Buckeye State.
Of course, it’s always possible the 77-year-old Governor could appoint himself for a second run in the Upper Chamber.
However, there seems to be six front-runners vying for the seat: Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, Attorney General Dave Yost, former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, the man who changed the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians Matt Dolan, former Representative Jim Renacci, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
And it’s the conservative LaRose who seems to be pulling away from the pack.
Frank LaRose pulls into the lead
A new survey from WPA Intelligence shows Ohio residents are leaning toward their Secretary of State.
LaRose holds a seven-point lead over Husted and an eight-point lead over Yost – and both the Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney General are speculated to be more interested in running for the governor’s mansion in an open race in the next midterm.
LaRose leads Renacci and Dolan by 12-points each, while Timken trails by 15-points.
It’s important to note that it is DeWine, and not voters, who will select the candidate, but the will of Ohioans will certainly be considered.
Another factor DeWine will likely take into account will be who can best ensure the seat stays red following the 2026 special election.
🚨New: A new poll finds Frank LaRose has the leads among Republicans voters to replace Vance in the Senate and win the General Election👇
GOP Senate Primary Ballot
🔴 LaRose 17%
🟢 Husted 10%
⚪️ Yost 9%
🟡 Renacci 5%
🔵 Dolan 5%
⚫️ Joyce 3%
🟤 Davidson 3%
🟣 Timken 2%
🟠 Carey… pic.twitter.com/Zg4SVXzDoz— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) November 26, 2024
WPA Intelligence also found that LaRose is leading a generic Democrat opponent 49-42.
It’s very uncommon for a specific Republican candidate to lead “generic D” – as it’s called in poll-speak – but LaRose is doing just that.
RINOs of a feather flock together
But DeWine could decide to instead appoint someone closer to his political leanings than the more conservative-populist LaRose and Renacci.
Matt Dolan is a country-club liberal Republican who has a history of caving to the woke outrage mob.
His supposedly “moderate” stances would fit nicely with DeWine’s outdated view of republicanism.
Or, DeWine could stick it to MAGA voters who have criticized his time as governor and appoint Never-Trumper candidate, Timken.
There’s a reason only 16% of Republican respondents in the WPA Intelligence poll have a favorable view of the woman Vance defeated in the 2022 GOP Senate primary.
Timken initially defended ex-Representative Anthony Gonzalez (RINO-OH) for his vote to impeach Trump – before she cowered to backlash, pulled a 180 and called for Gonzalez’ resignation.
She also supported ex-Senator Rob Portman (RINO-OH) – a man who in his time in the Upper Chamber, strayed from his party to vote with Biden on multiple occasions, and went as far as calling the January 6 protest as “an attack on democracy itself,” and chastised Trump for it.
The decision is in DeWine’s hands – and that might not be good for the plurality of Republicans in Ohio who want to see LaRose taking Vance’s seat
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