COLUMBUS — Governor Mike DeWine addressed the Midterm Election results for the first time on Thursday morning.
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DeWine spoke to members of the media at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 Impact Ohio Post-General Election Conference at COSI in Columbus.
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During his comments, he talked about Dr. Amy Acton’s character as she prepares to take over the role of governor.
“We govern this state from the center-right and the center-left, and I have every, every expectation that Governor-elect Acton will do the same and she will be consistent with that long, long tradition of Democrats and Republicans in the state of Ohio who govern either from the center-left or the center-right,” DeWine said. “Predictability and stability is really one of the strengths that we have as a state.”
The governor was asked if he thought the controversial ad put out by Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign featuring Acton’s estranged mother impacted Tuesday’s results.
“I decided I’m not going to get into the micromanagement, you know, and dissect campaigns,” DeWine said. “The only thing I will say, I’ll go back to what I led with: 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, it just many times doesn’t matter.”
DeWine also took the time to speak about his former Lieutenant Governor, Jon Husted, and thank him for his service following his defeat to Sherrod Brown.
“When he went to the United States Senate, he went with tremendous understanding of the state budget and tremendous understanding on the needs of the State of Ohio,” DeWine said. “And this has not been reported very much, but if it was not for Jon Husted, we would have a Medicaid problem, a serious Medicaid problem today.”
He ended his remarks on Husted by saying he thinks “you’ll be hearing from Jon Husted again.”
DeWine also spoke on the work that’s been done during his years as governor and the unfinished business that the state has always had. During his remarks, he spoke heavily on the importance of investing in children and investing in them early.
“It’s the best money we can spend. Absolutely nothing even close to it,” he said in part.
DeWine still has a couple of months before Acton will be sworn in as the state’s next governor on Jan. 11. While he hasn’t sat down with leaders of the state legislature since the election, he said there are some things he’ll try to get done before leaving office.
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