Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy to change into governor of Ohio.
Ramaswamy, a former 2024 presidential major candidate who briefly co-chaired President Donald Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity, formally launched his 2026 gubernatorial marketing campaign on Feb. 24.
Trump threw his assist behind Ramaswamy’s bid practically instantly, and now the biotech entrepreneur has acquired one other key endorsement from Moreno, one of many Buckeye State’s two senators.
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Vivek Ramaswamy offers remarks to the viewers at CTL Aerospace on Feb. 24, 2025, in Cincinnati, the place he launched his Ohio gubernatorial marketing campaign. (Jon Cherry/Getty Pictures)
“Vivek is an America-First outsider and the very best individual to make Ohio the perfect state to dwell, work, and lift a household,” Moreno stated in a press release obtained by Fox Information Digital.
“I am proud to hitch President Trump in endorsing a daring chief to be the subsequent Governor of Ohio,” he added.
Moreno introduced that he was endorsing Ramaswamy at an occasion Saturday evening. “The primary & sole ethical responsibility of U.S. elected officers is to U.S. residents,” Ramaswamy wrote on X, sharing a clip of Moreno’s remarks. “Senator Bernie Moreno understands that & would not apologize for it. He is a star within the U.S. Senate & I am proud to earn his endorsement tonight. Our celebration is united in Ohio & we’re not going to squander it.”
The opposite U.S. senator from Ohio, Sen. John Husted, additionally a Republican, crammed Vice President JD Vance’s vacated seat. It was Ramaswamy’s anticipated backing by Trump and robust financing that some political observers consider satisfied Husted, previously Ohio’s lieutenant governor, to just accept the Senate appointment as a substitute of launching a major gubernatorial bid of his personal. Husted was beforehand thought of a probable frontrunner for governor.
Sen. Bernie Moreno gestures whereas speaking to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier than President Donald Trump’s deal with to Congress within the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Pictures)
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, seen as extra of an institution Republican, named Jim Tressell, a well-liked former Ohio State Buckeyes soccer coach, to interchange Husted as lieutenant governor. Tressell’s future political ambitions stay unclear.
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The timing of Trump’s announcement intrigued Ohio political observers, who’ve watched over the previous a number of years as his selections to weigh in on key statewide races have gone from days earlier than the election, to months, to now greater than a yr.
Robert Clegg, a longtime Republican marketing campaign advisor within the state, instructed the Related Press final month it might be meant as a message for Ohio Lawyer Normal Dave Yost, who’s searching for the Republican nomination for governor, or maybe even Tressell. “That is awfully early within the recreation, and I anticipated an endorsement perhaps later this yr – as in, like the autumn, and even wait till January,” Clegg stated. “I ponder if the president would not wish to have a knock-down, drag-out major right here in Ohio.”
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks throughout a marketing campaign rally on Feb. 25, 2025, on the Glass Metropolis Middle in Toledo. (Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)
Trump tantalized Republican candidates in Ohio’s bruising 2022 U.S. Senate major till simply 19 days earlier than the election, when he backed Vance and pushed him over the end line to safe the GOP nomination. Vance went on to win the overall election for the Senate seat that fall. A yr later, Trump issued his endorsement of Moreno for Senate three months earlier than the first. Moreno went on to win each the first and the overall election.
Trump’s endorsement is predicted to assist Ramaswamy’s early marketing campaign efforts in a state that’s resoundingly voted for Trump 3 times. Within the run-up to his announcement, Ramaswamy had additionally lined up key political advisors who had helped Vance together with his 2022 Senate bid, in addition to the endorsements of two sitting statewide officers and well-known conservatives nationally, together with Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
